‘NCIS’ Season 12 Spoilers: Did Gibbs Die In The Finale? Mark Harmon’s Return Unknown For Season 13

“NCIS” just pulled a “Game of Thrones”! Or did it? Fans of the CBS drama series are reeling after a big cliffhanger in the Season 12 finale left Special Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) laying on the ground with a bullet in his gut. Did “NCIS” just kill off its main character? Here’s how it all went down in episode 24, “Neverland.”

The finale saw the Major Case Response Team investigating a terrorist group called the Calling, which recruited young boys through social media before abducting them into the organization. Gibbs, Special Agent DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), and CIA officer Joanna Teague (Mimi Rogers) were able to track one of the abducted boys, Luke Harris (Daniel Zolghadri), to Zakho, Iraq. Unfortunately, finding the boy was only the beginning of the team’s problems.

On a crowded Iraqi street, Gibbs got separated from the group when he began following a suspicious-looking girl. The girl led Gibbs out into the open, while DiNozzo was distracted by a phone call from Daniel Budd, the Calling’s leader. The girl turned to smile at Gibbs before running away, just as the agent spotted Luke standing by the side of the road. However, things took a turn for the worse when the boy drew a gun and fired one shot into Gibbs’ leg and another into his gut. The episode then went to credits with fans not knowing whether Gibbs would be rescued or be left to bleed out in the street.

Watch the shocking scene below:

“NCIS” executive producer Gary Glasberg told the Hollywood Reporter that no matter what happens to Gibbs, the shooting will have a major impact on the show’s Season 13.

“Regardless of the outcome, any time that Gibbs or one of our family members is in danger or injured, it significantly affects everyone,” Glasberg said. “We’ll have to see the long-term effects and the psychological effects, but they’ll undoubtedly, as they always are, be there for each other. Then we’ll see where it takes [us] as we move forward to the coming episode.”

Glasberg added that the finale’s twist was designed to force Gibbs to face the type of enemy he would least want to fight -- a child.

It would certainly be surprising should “NCIS” have indeed decided to kill off its most popular character. The leader of the MCRT, Gibbs has been a mainstay on the popular CBS procedural since Season 1 made its debut in 2003. The cliffhanger ending suggests the character will survive the season break and make a recovery when the show returns, but fans will have to wait for the premiere of Season 13 in the fall to know for sure.