Yesterday, CBS and NCIS producers confirmed that I Am Number Four star Emily Wickersham has officially joined the cast of NCIS as a series regular, replacing Cote De Pablo who left the series at the start of the current season.

Wickersham was announced back in September for a three episode story arch with the option to promote her to a series regular.  Wickersham’s character, NSA Analyst Eleanor "Ellie" Bishop, will debut on the November 19th episode when it is discovered that the Secretary of the Navy was bugged during a confidential briefing, a potential security breach that Bishop warned the NSA about two years prior in a threat assessment.  In a statement about Wickersham’s inclusion to the cast, Executive Producer Gary Glasberg said,

Emily Wickersham’s Ellie Bishop is proving to perfectly compliment the NCIS team.  Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Great things are planned for Bishop and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have her on board.

Wickersham will be filling the spot left by Cote De Pablo who played Agent Ziva David since the first episode of the third season.  De Pablo shocked fans this past summer when she announced that she would not be returning for the 10th season of the most viewed scripted show on television, deciding to pursue other projects.

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