NCIS season 22 has arrived, tugging at the heartstrings of its audience with an unanticipated homage to the character Donald "Ducky" Mallard. Although McCallum intended to return as Ducky in season 21, his untimely death at 90-years-old eft the NCIS crew in mourning in September 2023. In his honor, the show dedicated the episode named The Stories We Leave Behind to him, which had the team digging into one of Ducky's unsolved cases.
With the commencement of season 22, fans once again see the familiar faces of the main cast, including Agent Jessica Knight (portrayed by Katrina Law), who rejoins the squad after a brief absence. Unexpectedly, the third episode of the newest season, titled The Trouble With Hal, unfolded another tribute to both McCallum and his iconic character. As the episode kicks off, we see Agent Nick Torres (played by Wilmer Valderrama) floating the idea of transforming Ducky's vacated office into a gym, sparking debate among the group.
Despite some initial hesitation about changing Ducky's space, Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) expresses that he believes his late mentor would approve of repurposing the room. Amidst these changes, we observe Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) using the office for meditation, while Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) insists on keeping Ducky's old files accessible believing them still to be of value. The decision was finally made to name it the "Dr Donald Mallard Memorial Multi-Purpose Room".
However, Vance thought the name might be t.