What happened to Jimmy Palmer’s wife Brenna on NCIS?

“NCIS” is undoubtedly one of the most successful television shows today, if not ever. The CBS police procedural has run for an astonishing 22 seasons and counting, with nearly 500 episodes to its name. This is more than just Criminal Minds. One of the main characters of the show is Jimmy Palmer. Jimmy is played by actor Brian Dietzen, and has been there from the beginning, making his first appearance at the end of the first season. Since then, he has become a staple of the series. Unfortunately, Ms. Palmer was not so lucky.

Brenna Palmer, played by Michelle Pearce, doesn’t appear in nearly as many episodes of the show. However, it is no less important. She also made a big impact, especially because of the way she exited “NCIS.” For fans of the series, Brenna Palmer’s death was a huge blow and is still debated today. With that in mind, it’s worth examining exactly what happened to her and, perhaps more importantly, why it happened.

Death is just part of any long-running show. That’s just the nature of the beast. But some deaths were particularly severe. For example, Glenn’s brutal death in The Walking Deadsomething fans still talk about to this day. Despite its brutality, it was still shown to the audience, making it real. In Brenna Palmer’s case, it was the snap of a finger. Poof, you’re gone. That’s because Breena was killed off-screen in the NCIS movie, which made the whole thing more than a little surprising.

“NCIS” Season 18 aired while the COVID-19 pandemic was still raging. The episode “Day One” aired in February 2021, more than a year after the global disaster. Jimmy personally confirmed that his beloved wife died as a result of being infected with the Coronavirus. “You were so great, you know, when Brenna went missing,” he told the team in the episode, explaining that his mother would move in to help. “Between work, single parenthood, and school, it must be too much. So, I called Lifeline.”

This was the case. In an interview with at After the episode aired, Brian Dietzen explained where Jimmy’s head was as all of this was unfolding.

“We can see during this week’s episode that Jimmy is trying to hold in whatever happiness he can, trying to say, ‘Hey, my glass is half overflowing here.’ I’m doing really well,” while we the audience can see that that may not be the case, he’s doing everything he can just to keep his head above water, but that can only happen for so long before there’s a certain breaking point.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been too big an event for much of the media to ignore. In some cases, shows have decided not to address this issue. In other cases, such as: Futurama used the pandemic to fuel its storytelling. In the case of “NCIS,” it seemed appropriate to address what happened, specifically the tragic loss of life around the world. As Dietzen explained in the same interview, the death of his character’s wife was a way to acknowledge what was happening in the world at that moment.

“I think that was one of the interesting and obviously heartbreaking things about this disease that we’ve all seen, is that these people on the front line were working as doctors working as EMTs who had to go through so much grief alone. And yet, they’re being asked to continue working because if Stop working, we won’t have our front line anymore, and in many ways, this episode turned out to be an acknowledgment of people who have lost others during this pandemic.”

However, that didn’t make the death any less disturbing for longtime fans of the show. Brenna Palmer wasn’t a regular on the series, but since Jimmy is the show’s host, her death was a big deal. Having it happen off-screen was a bold choice, but it was made for a deliberate reason.

In terms of impact versus screen time, Michelle Pearce’s time as Brenna Palmer on NCIS is very impressive. The actress only appeared in six episodes of the show before her off-screen death. But everything falls back into place, and as of this writing, Pierce has appeared in seven episodes of the show.

In the NCIS season 19 episode “The Helpers”, Pearce returned as Brenna. Though, this wasn’t like coming back John Goodman as Dan posthumously in the revival of “Roseanne.”. Instead, Breena’s posthumous appearance on the show came during a dream sequence set at the beginning of the episode. He sees Jimmy lying with his head in Brenna’s lap in the middle of the field talking about how much he misses her.

Talk to TVLine After the episode aired, Brian Dietzen, who also co-wrote the episode, explained why the scene was included in the show.

“The reason for this was not just to make a great cinematic opening… I wanted Michelle back on set, and she wanted to come too. And the fact that we were able to have Michelle back was just such a blessing, because she was definitely one of my favorites to work with on the show. “

“NCIS” is currently streaming on Paramount+, Or you can purchase seasons of the show on DVD through Amazon.