There's a Gary Cole for every TV fan. Now, he's leading an 'NCIS' Veterans Day special

There’s a Gary Cole for everyone.

Whether you know him from “The West Wing” or “Veep,” “The Good Wife” or “Office Space,” “Dodgeball” or “Midnight Caller,” you most likely know his face.

For a while he was the “hero of the schoolyard” with his daughter’s classmates for appearing in “Cadet Kelly” alongside Hilary Duff. These days, though, it's his role as Alden Parker on the long-running CBS crime procedural “NCIS” that has him stopped in the street.

Centered on the U.S. Navy’s investigative unit in Washington, D.C., the show is currently airing Season 23.

“It’s pretty powerful, that impact,” says Cole of the program's devoted broadcast audience. “So a lot of people have followed the show and they have followed it, some of them, forever,” he adds.

Cole's character was brought in during Season 19 to run the team after Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) left. In a Veterans Day special, a first for the franchise, “NCIS” and “NCIS: Origins” will cross over with back-to-back episodes Tuesday. A historical mystery in “Origins” — featuring a guest appearance from Harmon on the show that follow Gibbs' early career — will find its way to the modern day on “NCIS,” which airs directly after.

The Associated Press spoke to Cole about the success of the show, the real service members he’s met and those classic “NCIS” freeze frames. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

COLE: I didn’t really look at the effect of how big or small the audience would be, because today things are much different. I mean, nothing has kind of the large, overwhelming impact that television shows of 25 years did in terms of their audience, where you could be swallowed up by just one image.

…

I’m old enough to say that I was on television when, here in the States, there were three channels. That was it. Those were your choices. And once they were on and then rerun once, maybe twice if you were lucky, they really were gone.

Now … if you look hard enough, you can find pretty much anything you’ve done your whole career. It’s being broadcast somewhere.

COLE: Not so much a show. There’s probably a few network movies of the week, we used to call it, that I kind of cut my teeth on.

...

By that I don’t mean choice of material, although that was part of it too. But it was just kind of a laboratory to get comfortable in front of a camera without a lot of — if you’re on a series and it’s successful, your visibility is just there. If you’re doing a lot of learning and making mistakes and correcting them, you don’t want to do that on a weekly basis in front of everybody.

COLE: They didn’t want him to be similar to Gibbs. They certainly wanted, you know, they wanted somebody that you could buy as a leader. Our old producer, who has retired since, had a great line about, kind of, just an inside joke about the show, which is that: In the original “NCIS,” all the kids were eager to please the father, meaning Gibbs, right? They were like wondering what his reaction was going to be and would they be, you know, under the gun if they made a mistake or made a wrong move? There was a little bit of, you know, apprehension around him. And so now he flipped it and said, what if the father were to leave? And the crazy uncle shows up? And how are they going to react to them? And they’re not quite sure at first, like, “What is the story with this guy?” ... And I liked that.

COLE: We’ve got a great tech guy with us named Mike Smith who has set up numerous field trips and interactions. Katrina (Law, co-star) and I visited an aircraft carrier about a year and a half ago and spent the day on what they call family day. … And we actually go to sea and they proceeded to do what they do and show us literally planes landing, planes taking off. And we got to see things that normally, you know, civilians wouldn’t see. And just to be with the sailors and interact with them. A lot of them knew the show. A lot knew other stuff I had done. We visited a real NCIS office out here in California.

COLE: They were very curious, but mostly about character stuff. They weren’t even worried about procedurals because they know, you know, it’s a television show, right? So, but, what I realized when I went in there, this is funny: Don’t tell anybody this, but I said, I looked at them and their average age, the guy that was leading them was probably 20 years younger than me. And every agent was barely 30 years old — if. So I was like, you know, based on this, if this is the reality, I should have retired 15 years ago.

COLE: No. We joke about them, they call them, what do they say? They call it a poof movement, or a poof moment. “Oh, that’s definitely gonna be a poof. You’re gonna get a poof.” POOF.

...

You know, somebody’s gonna choose it. And it’s certainly not gonna be me or anybody else in the cast, that is going to be in charge of figuring out where your poof movement is. So best to leave it to higher minds.

COLE: This might be mythological lore, I’m told that there is a sound that goes with that, right? That is, when it’s frozen? I’m told, I don’t know that I believe this, but that that is actually the voice of Don Bellisario, the original creator, into a microphone with reverb on it, where he just went, “poof.” Now, you can believe what you — let the internet go crazy now.

I was told that, and I have no reason not to believe it, you know, because I call (co-star) Sean Murray the show historian, because he’s been there for 23 years, and I think he’s the one that told me that. I always forget who told me what, but you know, I’ll blame it on him.

Gary Cole poses for a portrait in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Gary Cole poses for a portrait in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Gary Cole poses for a portrait in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Gary Cole poses for a portrait in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2026--

Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL) (“Vertical,” “we,” “our” or the “Company”), a global aerospace and technology company that is pioneering electric aviation, today will provide a Business & Strategy Update for the first quarter of 2026, highlighting continued progress across flight testing, certification, and financing.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506614110/en/

The Company’s Q1 2026 financial results filing is available on its investor relations website.

Stuart Simpson, CEO at Vertical, said: “This quarter represents a clear inflection point for Vertical. The successful completion of two-way piloted transition flight demonstrates our aircraft’s performance in real-world conditions and validates the core architecture required for certification. With this milestone achieved, our focus now shifts to executing Critical Design Review and advancing toward certification. Combined with our recent financing, we believe we are well positioned to deliver against our roadmap and progress Valo toward commercialization.”

Recent Highlights

Completion of Two-way Piloted Transition

Advancing Toward Critical Design Review

Financial Outlook & Clear Path to Certification

Positioned for Next Phase

With the completion of transition flight and continued progress toward CDR, Vertical is entering a phase defined by disciplined execution against its certification roadmap.

The Company’s third prototype aircraft is expected to commence flight testing shortly, supporting further validation and certification activities.

Joining the Q1 Webcast

Vertical will host a webcast at 08:30 am ET (13:30 GMT) today to discuss the first quarter’s results. The call will be hosted by Vertical Chair, Dómhnal Slattery and Stuart Simpson, Vertical’s CEO. They will be joined by Simon Davies, Vertical’s Chief Test Pilot, and David King, Vertical’s Chief Engineer.

To access the webcast, visit Vertical’s Investor Relations website at https://investor.vertical-aerospace.com/events-and-presentations/events/. A replay will be available on the Company’s website following the event.

Annual Report

Vertical filed its 2025 Annual Report, including FY25 financial results on March 24, 2026. A copy of the Annual Report is available on the Company’s Investor Relations website and at www.sec.gov. Vertical will provide a hard copy of the Annual Report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders upon request. Requests should be directed in writing by email to investors@vertical-aerospace.com, or by post to Vertical Aerospace Ltd., Unit 1 Camwal Court, Chapel Street, Bristol BS2 0UW, United Kingdom.

About Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace is a global aerospace and technology company pioneering electric aviation. Vertical is creating a safer, cleaner, and quieter way to travel. Valo is a piloted, four-passenger, Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with zero operating emissions. Vertical is also developing a hybrid-electric variant, offering increased range and mission flexibility to meet the evolving needs of the advanced air mobility market.

Vertical combines partnerships with leading aerospace companies, including Honeywell, Syensqo and Aciturri, with its own proprietary battery and propeller technology to develop the world’s most advanced and safest eVTOL.

Vertical has c.1,500 pre-orders of Valo, with customers across four continents, including American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow, GOL and Japan Airlines. Certain customer obligations are expected to be fulfilled via third-party agreements. Headquartered in Bristol, UK, Vertical’s experienced leadership team comes from top-tier aerospace and automotive companies such as Rolls-Royce, Airbus, GM, and Leonardo. Together, they have previously certified and supported over 30 different civil and military aircraft and propulsion system.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that relate to our current expectations and views of future events. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Any express or implied statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position as well as our expected financial performance and operational performance, liquidity, growth and profitability strategies, the business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, certification and the commercialization of the Valo aircraft and the hybrid-electric Valo variant on any particular timeline or at all, and the completion of piloted flight test program and flight demonstrations; selection of suppliers; our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations; our plans for capital expenditures which could be higher than anticipated; the design and manufacture of the Valo aircraft; the differential strategy compared to our peer group; the features and capabilities of the Valo aircraft; potential revenue opportunities; expectations surrounding pre-orders and commitments; the assumptions underlying the Company’s Flightpath 2030 goals, as well as statements that include the words goals,” “targets,” “objectives,” “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “project,” “forecast,” “estimate,” “may,” “should,” “anticipate,” “will,” “aim,” “potential,” “continue,” “are likely to” and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are not a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The targets, expectations and estimates included in this report were prepared by the Company’s management team based on information available at the time such information was developed and reflects numerous assumptions, including those related to general business, economic, market, and financial conditions, as well as other factors that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company’s control. The Company believes the assumptions underlying such targets, expectations and estimates were reasonable at the time such information was prepared. However, important factors that may affect actual results and cause the results reflected in such targets, expectations and estimates not to be achieved including, among other things, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s business, industry performance, the regulatory environment, and general business and economic conditions, as discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 24, 2026, as such factors may be updated from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and accordingly undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than to the extent required by applicable law.

First eVTOL to complete two-way piloted transition – switching from helicopter mode to airplane mode and back again - under civil aviation Design Organisation Approval regulatory oversight