Abby's return to NCIS has received a definitive response from star Pauley Perrette after exiting the series six years ago. Perrette's potential return to the role of Abby continues to be floated by fans. That's both because of the circumstances around her departure, involving a very public spat with series lead Mark Harmon, and the fact that Abby was integral to the long-running procedural. The character appeared in two episodes of Jag, which was as a backdoor pilot for what would eventually become the spinoff NCIS.

In a recent interview with Hello!, Perrette definitively shut down any possibility of returning to acting following her retirement in July 2020. The former actor stressed that she was not ungrateful for the benefits that acting provided. However, Perrette candidly discussed her reasons for remaining committed to retirement. She said in part: I want to be me all the time. Now a producer of documentaries,...