NCIS season 17 spoilers: Wilmer Valderrama talks Mark Harmon friendship

Being a part of a show like NCIS may be financially rewarding, but it’s also hard work. Think in terms of extremely long hours and keeping those hours going for a good nine or ten months of the year. There are also times where you’re taking on fairly similar cases and you have to find a way to take pleasure in a lot of little moments.

All of this, in the end, is made easier when you are surrounded by a lot of people you love — and that is something that cast member Wilmer Valderrama is doing his best in order to stress this week. Speaking as a part of a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, he made it clear that the writers, the cast, and the crew are the reason why the show still works after so many years — he’s only been a part of a handful of them, but he’s seen all sorts of examples of this energy at this point:

“And after 17 seasons to have a cast and a writers’ room and a crew that’s still, not only grateful to be on set, but excited to come to work, and still laugh all day long and have that energy … From the top down.”

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For those wondering, Wilmer also had nothing but nice things to say about his co-star Mark Harmon, who is in many ways the tone-setter on set after being there from the very beginning:

Mark is someone that leads with kindness and his energy is beautiful. We have quite a bromance going on, him and I. But from the top, down, I think it’s the people. The fact that people still love coming to work.

Here’s a fun fact about Mark at this point — he’s the only series regular left who was there at the beginning and still appears in every single episode. (Sean Murray was recurring back in season 1, and while David McCallum is still listed as a regular, he no longer appears in every episode.)

So how long will NCIS last? There is no word on that at the moment, but we don’t hear any buzz suggesting that season 17 will be the show’s last. We wouldn’t be shocked if it makes it ’til season 20 at this point, where it could tie the original Law & Order as the second-longest primetime drama series of all time. (Law & Order: SVU is in season 21 and still going — unless it ends soon, it’s hard to imagine NCIS catching it.)

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Why do you think NCIS is still going strong?

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This article was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.