"NCIS" season 12 ended with a sudden cliffhanger when Luke Harris (Daniel Zolghadri) suddenly shot Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) twice; once in the leg and then a second in the chest. The season 13 premiere, "Stop the Bleeding," will address Gibbs' life-and-death situation and may bring back a familiar face with the return of Mike Franks.
Mike Franks, played by Muse Watson, was killed off back in season 8. However, the actor recently posted a photo of his "NCIS" dressing room via Twitter with the words "Home at NCIS. Ok, dressing room trailer" captioned at the bottom. Although the character has died, a report from CarterMatt states that he may be back through different means.
One possibility is that the premiere episode will focus on a flashback during a time when Franks was still alive. The report cites that the flashback might focus on Gibbs and Franks working on a case together and the memories of these events might help Gibbs fight to survive his wounds.
The other possibility is that Franks might appear in the present day as a hallucination or dream sequence where he directly addresses Gibbs and encourages him to live. It is possible that Gibbs is already letting go and thinking that this is his moment to die but the hallucinations of Franks might make him think otherwise.
The chances of Gibbs actually dying is very low given that a report from TVLine confirms that actor Mark Harmon has signed on for season 13 instead of just agreeing to appear for one or two episodes and then be killed off.
At this point, there is no confirmation as to what capacity Muse Watson's character will have on the show or for how many episodes he will even be present. It is entirely possible that he is only back for a short but memorable cameo just as it is possible he will return as a constant flashback or hallucination.
"NCIS" season 13 is set to premiere this Sept. 22.
