Why Did Abby Leave NCIS? Everything You Need To Know About This Shocking Departure

Abby from NCIS
Abby from NCIS

Pauley Perrette, the actress who played Abby, left the show NCIS in 2018, leaving everyone in shock. She has been a part of the show since its beginning. From season 1 to season 15, she entertained us with her perky nature and gothic style.

She was one of the most popular cast members of the show. In fact, we can call her a fan favorite. She plays the role of a forensic scientist with a very distinctive style and personality. Abigail or Abbey Sciuto is working at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service headquarters.

She is one of the important cast members of the show, appearing in almost all episodes. She was also a part of spin-offs such as NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. Her character was well-loved because of her enthusiastic and happy attitude toward her work.

Her passion and madness, coupled with her gothic style, caught the attention of the audience. She was a part of the show for fifteen years and decided to quit at the end of season 15. She announced that she would be departing the show on 4th October 2017. She then filmed the 15th season. Her final episode aired on 8th May 2018.

What was the reason behind her leaving the show?

Abby from NCIS
Abby from NCIS

The exit of Pauley from the show was something completely unexpected. She is one of the original cast members and has been a part of this show ever since its beginning. The reason for her to quit the show was because of a falling out with one of her castmates. The castmate is none other than Mark Harmon. 

Harmon plays the character of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the lead role in NCIS. A clash between these two fellow cast mates is what prompted her to exit the show. Rumor has it that their rift started back in 2016. Mark Harmon brought his dog to the set.

The dog got violent and bit one of the crew members causing 15 stitches to the person. This incident caused a hostile work environment, but nobody could say anything because Harmon was one of the show’s producers.

Despite the violent nature of the dog, Harmon continued to bring the dog to the set. This action caused resentment among other cast members. Nobody except Perrette raised their voice against this. Perrette confronted him about the dog situation, and it was then the rift between these two co-stars started. 

What Happened Between Pauley and Mark?

Abby from NCIS
Harmon and Perrette, as Gibbs and Abby from NCIS

The dog incident caused a change in the dynamic. From then on, they were never seen in the same room. Things got so bad that the show producers had to write scripts in such a way that neither of them shared the same screen space.

In her last episode, they were seen side by side. But it was later revealed that they were edited together and were, in fact, not together. Much of the drama related to her departure was revealed after she left the show.

Soon after she made it official that she won’t be continuing the show, rumors started to spread about the falling out between her and Harmon. There were many tabloid articles about this split, with vicious allegations against her. 

In response to this, she made a tweet about how a powerful machine was trying to make her silent. She accused a powerful hand that’s feeding false information to the media and trying to bring her down. The main aim of these tabloid articles was to tarnish her image.

She said that, by remaining silent, she is trying to protect her crew. That was the only reason why she was keeping quiet and not telling the truth. At the end of this tweet, she also mentioned that “He did it.” Many speculated that the “he” in her tweet referred to Mark Harmon.

The show producers and CBS never mentioned anything about this tweet. In fact, they said that they properly addressed the dog incident that caused the rift between these actors. They said that her departure had nothing to do with this particular incident. Though this was their claim, the tweet made by Pauley Perette clearly implies that she has been bullied and was silenced, but we do not know to what extent. 

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