‘NCIS’ season 11 spoilers: First photo of Mark Harmon in Ralph Waite tribute

A week from Tuesday, “NCIS” will air what is one of the most emotional hours of the entire season in “Honor Thy Father.” This is a tribute to the late Ralph Waite, who passed away earlier this year. His character of Jackson Gibbs is being written off with a send-off that should bring some closure, and also allow Mark Harmon’s Agent Gibbs to move forward.

As you can see in the photo above (and in case you haven’t heard already), Billy Dee Williams is going to return as the namesake for Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Also, a number of the main characters are also going to appear at Jackson’s memorial, including Director Vance, Ducky, and others.

While there may be some larger story threads coming up in the episode, none of them are going to be such that the show is not able to tie them up properly within the episode. We have heard already that there will not be a cliffhanger at all here, and the story will just pick up in the fall. The show has already been renewed, so there is no worries regarding a series finale.

Next week, the show could venture into more lighthearted territory with “The Admiral’s Daughter,” which is to be an hour all about Michael Weatherly’s character of Tony and a rescue mission in France. That one should provide a very different sort of energy than the finale, and give you yet another character-based story to go along with what happened with Pauley Perrette’s Abby in “Shooter.”

Stay tuned, as we will have more on the finale soon.

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Photo: CBS