‘NCIS’ Star on His Big Return: ‘Ducky Would Have Loved All the Smiles’ — Plus Check Out Photos

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 21 Episode 2 “The Stories We Leave Behind.”]

To pay tribute to Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard and the iconic actor who played him, David McCallum, NCIS delivered a touching, heartbreaking, bittersweet episode co-written by Brian Dietzen and Scott Williams—and it ended with the return of a fan favorite: Michael Weatherly‘s Tony DiNozzo.

“Being back on #NCIS was truly Amazing. to @BrianDietzen @CBS & @ncisverse,” Weatherly wrote on social media the morning after the episode aired. “Seeing everyone behind the camera was a box of treasure: one glorious shining jewel was @DanielaRuah who is directing up a storm! #Ducky would have loved all the smiles! Gotta go- there’s work to do!” (Ruah, who starred as Kensi on NCIS: Los Angeles, is directing an upcoming episode of NCIS.)

Tony joined Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Dietzen) in the final scene, greeting him with, of course, “autopsy gremlin,” before adding, “Are we here to celebrate a great man or what? And I figured Duckman would want a little DiNozzo magic at his party.” He “wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Palmer remarked that they’d been telling stories about Ducky all week, cuing up the episode title: “I guess that’s all we have in the end, is just the stories we leave behind.” But Tony disagreed. “We also have the lives we touch while we are here, the people we leave behind,” he said. “He had a good friend in you.” And of course when Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) walked in, Tony had to greet him with a nickname (McHurry in this case).

“It all made a lot of sense. This character, in addition to being close with Ducky, was Jimmy’s good friend, so when he comes to visit, it is to help the person who’s left behind,” Dietzen told TV Insider of bringing back Weatherly’s Tony as part of our aftershow, NCIS: Case Closed. “It’s really to be there for his friend.”

CBS has shared photos, including ones from behind the scenes, from the episode. Check them out below.

NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS