What role did Drew Carey play on NCIS? Everything to know about his character

CBS’s long-running procedural drama, NCIS, has had numerous actors stepping in to portray vital guest characters as per the demands of the plot. In January 2018, it was reported that Drew Carey would guest star as former Marine John Ross in an episode of the series. Carey’s character appeared in March 2018.

Meanwhile, NCIS is presently in its season 23. The recent storyline of the series showed the team continuing to solve crimes. McGee was seen helping Parker get to Carla, who held Lauren hostage. While Parker tricked Carla into freeing Lauren, the team took the criminal out as Parker and Harriet got closure for their father’s death.

In another case, while Sawyer dropped in for an investigation, Knight received the offer to train with NCIS Elite. Elsewhere, the series saw a crossover event with NCIS: Origins, where a three-decade-old case was solved in the present, with the real culprit identified after thirty years.

The crossover saw a cameo from Mark Harmon as the retired Gibbs, remembering a crime from thirty years ago. On one hand, it saw a return of Roma Maffia as Vera Strickland, while on the other, actors Moynihan and Ely played the aged versions of their own Origins characters.

Revisiting Drew Carey’s character on NCIS

As mentioned before, Drew Carey played John Ross in one episode of NCIS. Titled Handle With Care, episode 16 of season 15, the plot revolves around the death of a Navy Petty Officer due to cyanide poisoning. Torres and McGee’s investigation led them to retired Sergeant John Ross.

The NCIS team discovered that retired Marine Ross coordinated daily care packages to be sent to officers on duty. The almond cookie laced with cyanide that killed Petty Officer James Sweeney was part of Ross’s care package sent from Virginia. They questioned Ross in Legion Hall, where the packages were assembled. The former Marine admitted to having sent the almond cookies, his mother’s recipe, but denied poisoning anyone.

However, Ross behaved edgily while being interrogated. His background check revealed that he was captured from the US Embassy and held a prisoner in Iran for more than five years. His pregnant girlfriend delivered his baby daughter, but believed him dead and moved on with another relationship. However, Ross returned and asked her to raise his daughter as her husband’s child.

On one hand, deceased officer Sweeney’s memorial service gave a glimpse of the family drama involving Sweeney’s wife, Emma, his brother, Clyde and his uncle, Bob. On the other hand, Torres and McGee questioned a postal worker who remembered Ross as a friendly delivery personnel who never dropped care packages through mailboxes, as Sweeney’s was done. Moreover, Ross was away in Chicago on the date the mail was sent. 

The team also investigated Whit Dexter, a conspiracy theory podcaster, who had tried to corner Ross once. Although Dexter had promised to expose something huge about Ross to his followers, he shrugged off Ross’s predicament when NCIS came questioning. Moreover, he claimed that the investigative team was siding with a murderer. 

However, when Dexter’s social media outburst talked about Ross using poisoned cookies to silence Sweeney, the team hauled him in for interrogation. They also tried to rifle through all social media posts to pin down the first mention of the poisoned cookie. It took the team back to Ross’s workplace, Legion Hall. As they scoured through security camera footage, they identified Sweeney’s wife, Emma, and his brother, Clyde, uploading the message.

While Sweeney was killed by his own family to make way for their romantic relationship, Sloane talked to Ducky about Ross’s unrecognized PTSD. On Ducky’s advice, Sloan opened up about her own traumatic experience in Afghanistan. In response, Ross opened up about his inner trauma.

Deciding to reconnect Ross with his estranged daughter, Sloan discovered that the postal worker was his daughter, Molly. She took Ross to meet Molly and encouraged him to reclaim his life through an old photo of him and his girlfriend, Molly’s mother.

A glimpse at Drew Carey’s career

Actor-comedian-game show host Drew Allison Carey served in the US Marine Corps before turning to comedy. Before starting his stand-up career, he also worked as a waiter and a bank teller. Although he worked in five movies, including The Aristocrats, Robots and Jack and Jill, he is popular for hosting.

Besides The Drew Carey Show, he also hosted Whose Line Is It Anyway, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, The Late Late Show, Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, The Price Is Right, and many more. Moreover, he played himself in cameo appearances in other reality and television shows, while some of his notable TV projects include Geppetto, Freaky Friday, The Good Life and more.

Interested viewers can watch NCIS on CBS or stream it on Paramount+.