{"id":4187,"date":"2026-01-23T16:53:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=4187"},"modified":"2026-01-23T16:53:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:53:39","slug":"david-mccallum-appeared-in-459-episodes-of-ncis-but-another-star-is-set-to-break-his-record-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=4187","title":{"rendered":"David McCallum Appeared in 459 Episodes of NCIS, But Another Star Is Set to Break His Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-17811\" class=\"post-17811 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-ncis tag-cbs tag-cbs-drama tag-cbs-show tag-david-mccallum tag-ncis tag-sean-murray tag-tv-series tag-tv-show\">\n<div class=\"entry-content clearfix\">\n<p>NCIS has seen many changes and characters come and go, but one of its longest-standing stars is about to make history as the series\u2019 most featured character.<\/p>\n<p>While Dr. Donald \u201cDucky\u201d Mallard, portrayed by David McCallum, held the record with 459 episodes until his character\u2019s peaceful exit in season 21, another original team member is on track to surpass him.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4188\" src=\"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FB_IMG_1769187166002-300x274.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FB_IMG_1769187166002-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FB_IMG_1769187166002.jpg 669w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sean Murray\u2019s character, Special Agent Timothy McGee, joined NCIS in season one and became a permanent fixture in season two. McGee has progressed from rookie agent to core team member, working with numerous leaders, including Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), and his progression has won over supporters. Murray has now appeared in 452 episodes, surpassing Harmon\u2019s 435 and approaching McCallum\u2019s record.<\/p>\n<p>With Murray confirmed to return for NCIS season 22, he\u2019s all but guaranteed to set a new record, becoming the series\u2019 most-featured character. This milestone cements McGee\u2019s-and Murray\u2019s-significance in the NCIS legacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"entry-footer\">\n<div class=\"entry-tags clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NCIS has seen many changes and characters come and go, but one of its longest-standing stars is about to make history as the series\u2019 most featured character&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4189,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions\/4189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}