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Vivian "Viv" Blackadder is a former FBI agent who for a time was an NCIS Special Agent and also a member of the main NCIS Major Case Response Team as well as the first ever female partner of NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

Biography

Pre-Series

Born to unnamed parents in an unknown state in America, Viv also had a brother named Rex Blackadder.

As an adult, she joined the FBI and worked for them as a Special Agent, presumably participating in field work.

However in October 2000, Rex was one of the fatalities in the U.S.S. Cole tragedy which ultimately prompted Viv to quit working for the FBI for good.

Left greatly devastated by Rex's death while also swearing revenge against the terrorists responsible, Viv later applied to join NCIS and after passing the necessary checks and receiving the necessary training at FLETC, she was eventually assigned to the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. where she subsequently joined the NCIS Major Case Response Team led by NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Viv became the third member of the main NCIS team and also the partner of fellow NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, DiNozzo having joined the team presumably a few months earlier after resigning from the Baltimore Police Department.

JAG Season 8

Occupation

Personality

Physical Appearance

Abilities

Firearms

Reading Deer Tracks

Relationships with Family

Rex Blackadder

Relationships with Fellow NCIS Colleagues

Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo

Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard

Abigail "Abby" Sciuto

Behind the Scenes

Viv Blackadder was played by American actress Robyn Lively but when test audiences reacted negatively to Blackadder while watching "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown", Lively was removed from her contract and the character written out of the series, JAG/NCIS creator and Executive Producer Donald P. Bellisario remarking in an interview that he thought Lively was too "soft".

When NCIS Season 1 officially began, the position left by Viv's departure went to the newly created character Caitlin Todd played by American actress Sasha Alexander.

Upon Alexander expressing her desire to leave the show, Kate was ultimately killed off in the NCIS Season 2 finale episode, Twilight (episode) two years later and replaced by Chilean-born actress Cote de Pablo who joined the show as Ziva David, de Pablo playing Ziva for nearly eight years up until her departure in the NCIS Season 11 episode Past, Present, and Future (episode). She was replaced by Emily Wickersham who joined the cast as Eleanor Bishop, Wickersham remaining in the role until her own departure from the show which occurred in the NCIS Season 18 finale episode, Rule 91 (episode) and after Wickersham had left, Katrina Law (Jessica Knight) who had been a recurring guest star in NCIS Season 18 became a permanent series regular on NCIS Season 19.

Trivia

  • Viv and her successor, Kate Todd are the only two members of the main NCIS team who do not know anything about Gibbs's first family due to the fact that by the time that the NCIS Season 3 finale episode, Hiatus Part 1 (episode) and Hiatus Part 2 (episode) had aired, Viv had long since left the team and Kate had been killed in the Season 2 finale, Twilight (episode) although her guesses about Gibbs being married three times were later proven to be correct.
  • Along with fellow NCIS Special Agent Don Dobbs, Viv is the only female character whose fate after "Meltdown" is not known. In addition, both she and Dobbs are the only two characters from the backdoor pilot episodes who have not appeared in any of the episodes of the main NCIS series nor have they been mentioned since then so their respective fates are currently unknown. Given that Vivian blew a sensitive operation and Gibbs has a notoriously low tolerance for such mistakes, it's likely that Vivian either resigned of her own accord or that Gibbs fired her.
  • Robyn Lively who played Vivian Blackadder is married to Bart Johnson (actor) who appeared in the NCIS Season 13 episode, Incognito (episode).
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