‘It’s Every Actor’s Dream’: ‘NCIS’ Stars Brian Dietzen & Katrina Law on Franchise Hitting 1,000 Episodes (Exclusive)

After NCIS celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, the franchise is getting ready to air its 1,000th episode, and Brian Dietzen and Katrina Law spoke to PopCulture.com about how it feels being part of the growing legacy. Between the Mothership series, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawai’i, and Sydney, it was only just a matter of time before the franchise hit the massive milestone. Ahead of the 1,000th episode, which is airing on NCIS on Apr. 15, Dietzen told PopCulture that “it’s every actor’s dream, I think, to get on something and have it actually success and last more than a season.”

“Actors kind of go from job to job, so the prospect of working on something for a year or maybe even two years is incredible,” Dietzen continued. “So when we look at it and say 21 years and between not just our show, but Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawai’i, Sydney, we’ve produced 1,000 episodes over the last 21 years. It’s incredible. It’s really, really rare air. I think that we’re one of only two different shows to actually do that. So, I don’t think it’s lost on any of us how blessed we are to be doing this and to be a part of it. So yeah, we’re just trying to show up and tell really good stories each week because the more times we get to do this, then we get to keep creating this and a thousand episodes; it means we’re halfway there because the goal’s 2,000. Right?”

While Brian Dietzen joined NCIS in the first season as Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Katrina Law only came on as NCIS Special Agent Jessica Knight towards the end of Season 18 before being upped to series regular for Season 19. Even so, Law said she feels “really blessed coming into this show a little bit later, a lot later. But one of my favorite things about the show is the amount of love that you can feel on-screen and off-screen. Also, the amount of love that you get from the fans. It’s just a very beautiful symbiotic relationship. And coming to set every day is a joy. One of my favorite stories to tell is that this crew has been together since JAG. So some of these guys go back together more than 21 years.”

JAG premiered on NBC in 1995, running for one season before getting picked up by CBS for an additional nine and ending in 2005. NCIS‘ backdoor pilot aired as part of Season 8 in 2003, so it’s actually about “30 years,” Law corrected herself. “So not only have they spent 10 months out of the year for the past 30 years together, 14 to 16 hours a day, but during their hiatus, they still go on vacations together and I think that’s a huge testament of how wonderful this cast and crew is.”

With NCIS: Sydney for next season and two new , this franchise doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Even though 2,000 episodes may be a bit far-fetched, fans can still look forward to plenty more NCIS for quite a while.

As for the 1,000th episode, Dietzen promised, “There’s going to be some good Easter eggs for people that have been fans of not only our show but also our sister shows. Potentially a few appearances from people we haven’t seen in some time, not even from our series, but from others. And what’s really great is it’s told through the eyes of someone who has watched NCIS his whole life, and that is Vance’s son Jared. And from the outsider’s perspective, he asked the real question, what makes NCIS so special to my father? And this 1,000th episode is a celebration of that.”

It sounds like the milestone episode is going to be one you don’t want to miss, so be sure to tune in on Monday, Apr. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The previous week, the network will be airing NCISverse: The First 1,000, an Entertainment Tonight special hosted by Kevin Frazier that will include exclusive interviews with the stars across the entire franchise, sharing favorite memories and behind-the-scenes moments. The hour-long special will also reveal new details about the franchise’s origin and how it became the global phenomenon it’s known as today. It all begins on Monday, Apr. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.