NCIS’ Sean Murray emotionally recalls fears daughter would be ‘overwhelmed’ on set
Sean Murphy is well recognised for his role as Senior Field Agent Timothy McGee on CBS’ long-running procedural, NCIS. As the drama nears its season finale, the actor reflected on his initial fears when it came to working with his real-life daughter.
Season 19 was an emotional instalment for viewers worldwide as it marked Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ (played by Mark Harmon) final appearance on the show.
While Sean Murphy recalls the exit episode as an “unbelievable experience,” the actor remembers the season for more personal reasons, closer to home.
During the episode titled The Brat Pack, the actor starred alongside his real-life daughter, Cay Ryan Murphy, who guest starred as a troubled teen, Teagan.
While this was a family affair for the actor, Sean revealed he had deeper fears for his daughter.
NCIS: Sean Murphy feared for his daughter on set (Image: CBS)
NCIS: Cay Ryan Murphy starred as Teagan (Image: CBS)
Speaking on his character’s paternal instincts, he remarked: “That was easy to do, obviously.
“One of the things I was worried about was the chaos of people on set, everyone coming up, giving you direction, so many different things.
“I was like, ‘Oh, man, I hope she doesn’t get overwhelmed’, and Cay took it like a champ.
“She was a total pro. I’m like, I wish I was as cool as she is because she handled it so well.”
The emotional actor added to Entertainment Weekly: “I’m so proud. It’s hard to… I’ll get choked up.”
Sean continued: “I will always have a piece of film or digital video of my daughter and I both doing what we love together on screen.
“So that’s something that will always be there, and I’ll always be thankful for that.”
The season 19 episode saw the team investigate a series of break-ins at the Norfolk base which ended up being connected to the m****r of an officer.
The episode kicked off with McGee being concerned about his four-year-old daughter’s desire to wear a princess dress to school every day.
His worry only increased when the team brought in a group of teenagers who broke into a house to throw a party.
As McGee shared: “Is that where this is headed? One day your daughter’s wearing a princess dress, won’t take it off, next day, she’s committing felony trespassing?”
The team were eager to uncover who unlocked the house as it had a door which only unlocked with a QR code that changed every 20 minutes.
Eventually, Noah (Daniel DiMaggio) revealed Teagan was behind the break-ins.
With McGee’s skills in cybersecurity and computer cr***s, he and Teagan bonded over hacking and being children of military personnel.
Towards the end of the episode, Teagan was able to help in the case of a lieutenant’s d***h and McGee told her if his daughter is anything like her when she grows up, he’d be proud.
NCIS season 20 continues Monday on CBS in the USA and Wednesday on Disney+ in the UK.
