NCIS pays tribute to late alum Thomas Buckley

CBS’s procedural drama, NCIS season 23 episode 8 paid tribute to its former AD, Thomas Buckley with a dedication card at the end of the episode. Buckley was part of the behind-the-scenes crew till his demise in April 2025. The show has had the tradition of paying respect to many of their departed alums and Buckley was no different. 

Signifying that the aired episode was dedicated to Thomas Buckley, the NCIS episode, titled Stolen Moments, wrapped up the plot and followed it up with the dedication card that read:

“In memory of our friend and colleague Thomas Buckley. We will miss you.”

There is no exact information about the number of years Buckley was connected to the NCIS team. However, his tribute suggests that his hard work and commitment to the show was appreciated by CBS and the production team. Considering that Buckley’s work as an AD involved multi-level effort and activity, NCIS did a nice job of paying its condolences to the legacy of the former member.

Who was Thomas Buckley of NCIS?

As mentioned before, Buckley was the AD connected to NCIS series and died in April 2025 at the age of 55. An obituary by legacy.com says that he is survived by his mother, Cecilia, brother, John, sister-in-law, nephew, and many relatives. As per the obituary, the Texas-born Buckley indulged in numerous interests. That included owning a DJ business, driving a school bus and being Guano Man, the mascot for the Austin Ice Bats minor league hockey team.

Buckley was also an enthusiastic home chef who prepared a line of infused alcohol to serve his friends and family. His Facebook account has numerous images of food items prepared at home with their recipes posted on the side. A huge sports fan, he was on the mission to create a non-profit association to arrange for wounded and disabled veterans to find transportations to sporting events all over the US. 

Thomas Buckley’s tinsel world career debuted in 1996 with Waiting for Guffman, a comedy movie starring Catherine O’Hara, Christopher Guest and Fred Willard. Over the years he was involved with various projects such as NCIS. Incidentally, ADs handle various departments of production in a series including budgets, safety, run on time and other logistics.

NCIS season 23 episode 8: What happened in the plot?

Meanwhile, the episode that paid tribute to Buckley with a dedication card at the end was titled, Stolen Moments. The synopsis for the episode read:

“When a man is shot by the Secret Service outside the vice president's official residence, NCIS is aided in the case by a new member of the team -- an AI chatbot being beta-tested by the Department of Justice.”

The episode introduced an AI chatbot, named Data Assisted Workflow Navigator, or DAWN, belonging to Jimmy. It was introduced to help the NCIS team in efficiency. While it allowed Jimmy a companion to talk to, it ended up causing more problems than it solved. 

While timing was made a central element in the storyline with references to the AI’s timing and the Jimmy-Jessica relationship timing, Gibbs’ Rule 24 told there was no such thing as a perfect timing. As such, Jimmy decided to seize the moment and approach Jessica at the present time. However, it was eventually Palmer who carried the AI device around for testing.

On the crime side, the team investigated the shooting of a man outside the Vice President’s home. However, the victim was shot by the Secret Service which seemed out of place. Soon the team zeroed in on Samantha’s best friend, Rachel, to be involved in the crime. The girls used time differences to pull off a heist, a case solved by human agents and not the AI device.

Tune in to CBS on December 16, 2025, to catch the next episode of NCIS season 23.