TV Shows

‘NCIS’ Star Sean Murray Reveals Injury He Suffered On-Set

Sean Murray recalled how he landed on his hand and injured his thumb running through a working car wash during Season 2.

By Megan Behnke

July 3, 2024, 10:48pm

"Thick As Thieves" – Parker's delinquent past resurfaces when NCIS is called to Philadelphia to investigate the death of a Navy petty officer, on the CBS Original series NCIS, Monday, March 14 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*. Pictured: Sean Murray as Special Agent Timothy McGee. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NCIS recalled an on-set injury he suffered during the procedural’s early days. Having been on the long-running CBS drama since the first season, the actor has likely gotten injured more than a few times while portraying Special Agent Timothy McGee. While speaking with former co-stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo on their podcast, Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, he spoke about a time he got hurt from a car wash.

Via ScreenRant, the trio looked back at their time in Season 2 of NCIS, when McGee had to run through a car wash in pursuit of a suspect. Murray shared that he was running and fell on his hand, and to this day, he has “very limited mobility” in his right thumb, and it was not supposed to happen. He said, “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.”

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While it does not sound pretty what happened, it definitely could have been a lot worse. Losing some mobility in his thumb was definitely one of the better outcomes from it. The fact that Murray was still able to do 20 seasons of NCIS proves that it didn’t take away too much from him, and he was still laughing while telling the story, so luckily, it didn’t traumatize him too much. But it wouldn’t be surprising if he stayed away from car washes for a little bit.

Filming a show like NCIS, injuries are expected, unfortunately, and it doesn’t help running into a working car wash. Sean Murray handled it like a pro, though. Considering NCIS, and Murray currently has no plans to leave, at least for now, the moment wasn’t too bad for him. It is always interesting and entertaining to see what stunts happen in each episode, whether intentional or not, especially if it’s a big one.