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The crime drama viewers have seen the intelligence analyst Nell Jones (Renée Felice Smith) and tech consultant Eric Beale (Barrett Foa) bow out of their jobs at NCIS to start anew together.
NCIS News – In And Out
Barrett Foa debuted in 2009 while Smith followed in 2010. Over their course in the series, both actors as series regulars have been in and out of the story due to their other commitments in different projects.
In season 11, the character Eric Beale has been out for so long after going on an undercover mission dedicated to Operations Manager Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) and had only come back nearing the season finale. His absence strained his relationship with Nell Jones and both agreed to take their relationship slow in order for them to think. But in reality, Eric was temporarily written off in the series as he was starring in “Angels in America” at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
At that same time, Neil had a mini hiatus to ponder if she would still like to continue her job at NCIS. But the truth was the actress Renée Felice Smith was given the time to star in “Someone To Carry You.”
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NCIS News – Natural Time To Say Goodbye
“Both Renée and Barrett have been on the show a long time, and they’re both very ambitious individuals who have projects that they want to do on their own — and we’ve been giving them time off to do so,” Showrunner R Scott Gemmill told TV Line.
“It seemed like a natural time to let them go off and do some other things, and give [their characters] what is a happy, hopefully, ending.”
In the season 12 finale, Eric had received funding for the international headquarters of his tech firm in Tokyo, Japan. He offered Neil the role of operations manager and they left together.
“But it’s a good thing, in some ways, to have that little bit of unpredictability to the show. That keeps it fresh and honest. But also, as I said, we keep in loopholes so that we can bring people back,” Gemmill added.
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Both stars have also expressed their gratitude to the show on their social media accounts. Foa wrote he is proud of the show for the writing, the cast, the crew, the fans, and his work on it. He captioned his Instagram post: “Creating and developing a gorgeously fleshed-out character like the brainy, bumbling, beta, billionaire Eric “Bulletproof” Beale over the last 12 years has been an actor’s dream.”
“Not many people in this world get to have this incredible privilege, and the gratitude I carry for this opportunity is difficult to express. Thank you, CBS, and NCIS: Los Angeles for 280 fantastic episodes,” he added.
While the actress Smith went on with a short farewell message which reads: “A deep enough bow I could not take to fully express my sincere gratitude and so—nothing but love and endless thanks to my #ncislafamilia 💫 the pleasure has been all mine. here’s to continuous growth.”