Pauley Perrette has embraced life away from the small screen, devoting much of her time now to charitable work and tending to her home in California.
The 55-year-old became a TV favorite thanks to her 15-year long turn as Abby Sciuto on the long-running CBS crime procedural NCIS, joining in 2003 and ending her run in 2018.
After playing the lead in the short-lived sitcom Broke, which was canceled after one season, Pauley announced that she had retired from acting in 2020, and now will share updates from her private home life.
The former TV star did just that with her most recent social media post, displaying her impressive green thumb with snaps from her garden as the first green tomatoes started to bloom.
“My first three tomatoes of the season,” she captioned some snaps from her backyard, extending her hand out to show them off, and fans were impressed by not only her crop, but the many small tattoos on the back of her hand and fingers, including a rainbow, a cross, and an upward arrow.
One fan commented: “I know that hand like the back of my hand,” and another wrote: “I saw your hand and knew it was yours,” with a third also saying: “We miss you on NCIS!”
While Pauley’s goodbye to the NCIS franchise happened nearly six years ago after an on-set incident involving Mark Harmon’s dog, CBS execs David Stapf and Amy Reiseinbach addressed the idea of bringing her back for a cameo on the upcoming Tony & Ziva spin-off, starring Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.
“Not a bad idea,” David told Deadline. “We haven’t talked about it or thought about it. We love Pauley, and she’s always welcome in any of the NCIS franchise, but it hasn’t come to us from the writers and/or from her.”
“I kind of was kidding when I said, it’s not a bad idea but it’s genuinely not a bad idea, she was a beloved character.” There is no word out yet on whether Pauley will return to the show in any capacity, although she remains close with several of her former co-stars.
They also spoke about the show’s longevity despite the departure of fan favorites like Pauley and Mark, deaths of beloved cast members and showrunners, such as David McCallum.
“For me, I attribute it to the fact that there’s always been a core feeling that the people who write the show, the people who produce it, the crew and the actors, no matter whether they were there from the beginning or not, they understand the DNA of the show, and they’ve always stayed true to that,” Amy opined.
David added: “It’s sort of wish fulfillment TV. You want to know that there are people like this in the world that have your back from a law enforcement agency angle, but it’s also a fun workplace show, and the bond that they have and the [expletive] that they give each other and the way that they interact, is comforting.”