NCIS fans delighted with season 22's 'perfect tribute' to David McCallum's Ducky Mallard

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from NCIS.

NCIS has returned for season 22 and fans were left emotional by an unexpected tribute to the late Donald “Ducky” Mallard.

While actor David McCallum was planning on reprising his role as Ducky in series 21, he sadly passed away in September 2023, aged 90, leaving his NCIS family devastated.

The CBS police procedural paid tribute to the veteran star in the episode The Stories We Leave Behind which saw the team investigate one of his cold cases in their colleague’s memory.

NCIS has since returned for season 22 with the main cast once again reuniting and back to work with Agent Jessica Knight (played by Katrina Law) also resuming her duties after temporarily leaving the team.

What viewers weren’t expecting though in the third episode of series 22, The Trouble With Hal, was another tribute to McCallum and his character played out in the show.

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At the beginning of the episode, Agent Nick Torres (played by Wilmer Valderrama) suggested turning Ducky’s empty office into a gym which raised some questions among the team.

Even though there were concerns about whether or not Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) would want the office to be altered in anyway, he agreed that he thought his old mentor would want it put to good use.

Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) goes into the room to meditate while Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) wants the filing cabinets to remain as he finds Ducky’s old papers useful.

So it is eventually decided that it will be “Dr Donald Mallard Memorial Multi-Purpose Room”.

Vance suggests that the time might be too long and Jimmy suggests “just Ducky’s”, prompting his boss to reply: “As in ‘meet me at Ducky’s’”, cementing the room’s name in the show.

This cute tribute didn’t go unrecognised by fans who took to social media to express their love for this inclusion in the episode.

One fan wrote: “Thanks for giving us some more Ducky love (Ducky’s) ‘those we leave behind’ Palmer’s respect and love for his mentor.”

Another commented: “‘Meet me at Ducky’s Place…’ A perfect tribute to our beloved Dr Mallard.”

A third posted: “Ducky’s office is now a multi purpose room. I love it.”, while a fellow viewer added: “They’re calling it Ducky’s! I’m obsessed.”

NCIS season 22 continues every Monday on CBS.