NCIS star Sean Murray, who portrays agent Timothy McGee, details an injury that occurred while filming the car wash scene. The CBS series focusing on various criminal investigations and partnerships between the Major Case Response Team features many memorable sequences. While pursuing a suspect in season 2, McGee ended up running through a functioning car wash, but soon realized that Gibbs (Mark Harmon) had outsmarted him. Along with Murray and Harmon, the cast of NCIS has included Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, Cote de Pablo, Sasha Alexander, Rocky Carroll, and more.
Appearing on the Spotify podcast Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, Murray discussed how he got injured during the car wash scene. Check out the clip below:
The actor revealed that he was running and fell on his hand, noting: “To this day I have very limited mobility in my right thumb.” When co-host de Pablo questioned whether it was a stunt, Murray hilariously added: “No, that was me coming down on my hand.” Read more of his comments below:
” I know, running through that car wash, which I did many times and was a real car wash. I remember taking a sharp right… I take a sharp right, my dress shoes come out right from under me because I’m sprinting. I come down on my right hand. And, you know, like a lot of us actor types, we jump up, we just keep doing our thing. We don’t even really notice what we do until afterwards. To this day I have very limited mobility in my right thumb. ”
Why Murray’s NCIS Car Wash Injury Is Surprising
Perhaps the most surprising part about Murray’s incident is that it never appeared on-screen. Instead, the sequence found McGee promptly venturing into the car wash, where he struggled through rotating equipment and spray cleaner, before making his way out the exit. It’s not hard to imagine something going wrong, though, because the actor was visibly covered in soap, as he mentioned, wiping away suds that were on his face more than once.
By NCIS season 22, there will have been numerous close-quarter fights and rescue scenes, including the orchestrating of Ziva (de Pablo), DiNozzo (Weatherly), and McGee’s escape early in season 7. Out of the many action scenes that occur during the procedural,it’s interesting that McGee’s car wash moment actually resulted in injury. While less energetic or high-stakes than other sequences, the comments from de Pablo and Weatherly suggest that it could have been a stunt.
It’s worth wondering how long that NCIS car wash scene took Murray to film and what kind of challenges it presented, apart from a lack of visibility and slippery surfaces. Given what he recently said about it (that it managed to be a surprisingly painful experience), at least the actor is able to speak about it with some levity now.