NCIS has a new woman in town! Emily Wickersham made her debut appearance on Tuesday night’s episode as Ellie Bishop. Ellie has been brought onto the NCIS team as an NSA analyst to replace Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), who left the series earlier this season.

Executive producer Gary Glasberg says he was very impressed by what Wickersham brought to the character…life. “Really what happened was Emily showed up and we gave her this script and this character and she really brought it to life,” he said. “She brought eccentricity and nuance and quirk and heart to a character that, until then, we had only been looking at on paper. Once we started to see and feel the chemistry with people on screen — and off, as well — we realized that we had something really special.”

Excited for my first #NCIS episode to air tonight! Check out this pic of Bishop working with Gibbs and the team! pic.twitter.com/cmKHI0vzQt

— Emily Wickersham (@EmilyWickersham) November 19, 2013

Glasberg also informed the fans that even though there is a new character, NCIS will not be making any major changes. “At the end of the day, it’s not so much about reinventing or doing anything that different,” Glasberg said. “NCIS is still NCIS. All of the dynamics are there. … The vibe of the show is the same, the chemistry is the same, the tone is the same. It’s just that we’ve got this new character and she brings something new to the party.”

#NCIS Emily Wickersham is fabulous! LOVED the episode tonight!!

— Meg Mims (@megmims) November 20, 2013

Glassberg also explained the idea behind Wickersham’s character during an interview with TVGuide.com. “We had started to sort of talk about the idea of doing a story line that involves the NSA … and someone who really kind of looks at things from a global standpoint, someone really wrapped up in sort of the international view of terrorism and the way things work,” he said. “We felt that that could be a fun addition in working with our team.”

Fans of the popular television show seem to be intrigued by the new character, as they took to NCIS’ official Twitter page to voice their comments.

#NCIS is awesome tonight! Honestly loving Bishop! Welcome @EmilyWickersham! Glad you're sticking around!! 🙂

— Kate Downey (@kdowney002) November 20, 2013

Here is a clip from last night’s episode:

Image via Twitter