NCIS season 23 episode 10: Where is Alden Parker, Gary Cole?

We more than recognize anyone coming out of NCIS season 23 with one big question — what happened to Gary Cole as Alden Parker? Why wasn’t he around for “Her”?

Given that tonight marked the big return of Emily Wickersham as Ellie Bishop, it would have been nice for her to meet the new leader of the agents … but that did not happen. Is this a sign of a long-term absence for the veteran actor? Ultimately, far from it.

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If you saw the promo tonight for the next NCIS episode, then you may be aware already of the fact that Cole will be back as his character. We tend to think that the actor’s absence here was twofold, with the first part being for story reasons. If there was no logical reason to include Parker in the narrative, the writers may have decided not to shoehorn him in. There were, after all, a lot of other things happening!

Meanwhile, we do also tend to think that the show’s own budget may have played a role. It has, after all, become increasingly common for actors to be gone here and there from their shows in a cost-cutting move, with many regulars often appearing in only 90% of a given episodes a season. Cole has had some pretty big storylines this season, especially when it comes to his mother. We would not be worried at all about the future.

With the same line of logic that we have used here for Gary, do not be surprised if some other cast members are missing here and there for the show moving forward. That could also be the case moving into season 24, which we are happy to say has already been officially greenlit.

Related – Learn more about what we saw on NCIS season 23 episode 10

Were you shocked that Gary Cole was absent on NCIS season 23 episode 10?

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This article was written by Jessica BunBun.