Caitlin "Kate" Todd is a fictional character featured in the CBS television drama NCIS portrayed by Sasha Alexander, appearing in 49 episodes of the series. Alexander made her series debut in the episode "Yankee White", before departing the regular cast in the season two finale "Twilight". Alexander was credited as a guest star for her appearances in the season 3 episodes "Kill Ari (Part I)" and "Kill Ari (Part II)," and appeared uncredited as a voice actor during season 8's "A Man Walks Into a Bar". Subsequently, Alexander has appeared in photographs, flashbacks, archive footage, and CGI footage. Her most recent appearance was through archive footage in "Two Steps Back" (season 15).
Casting Following JAG "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown", the character of Kate was created to replace that of Vivian Blackadder, because Donald P. Bellisario felt Blackadder actress Robyn Lively was "too soft". Jennifer Aniston was also considered. Alexander credits CBS President Les Moonves with her casting, stating that she "had just finished doing a couple of other series for CBS and he said, 'come do this show'".
Departure Donald P. Bellisario stated that Alexander departed the series due to a lack of stamina and grueling filming schedule, stating "this was the first time [Sasha] went over a year on a show". Co-star Michael Weatherly noted that he was not informed until February 2005, and only discovered Caitlin would be assassinated when he "saw the special-effects guy attaching a blood pack to [Sasha's] hair". Alexander does not regret leaving the series, "for a million reasons that I’ve never spoken out about … for a million reasons that I can’t". Following Caitlin's death, fans "flooded Internet message boards with angry postings directed at Bellisario", while Bellisario announced that Alexander's replacement would be "a new female lead character [...], quite different from the conservative Agent Todd. A 'European or Australian girl who is very comfortable with her femininity and sexuality'". Chilean actress Cote de Pablo was later cast as Israeli Mossad Officer Ziva David to replace the departed Alexander.
Personal background Caitlin was born in Indiana, and was the youngest of five children, including three brothers (whom she referred to as "practically psychotic"), and an elder sister (introduced as Rachel Cranston in Season 8 Episode 14 "A Man Walks Into a Bar..."), and was Catholic.Season 1, Episode 4 "The Immortals" She also mentioned having a cousin named Maureen Ingalls.Season 1, Episode 10 "Left For Dead"
Prior to joining NCIS, Kate attended college from 1993 to 1994, first studying law, but dropped out after a single year. She felt like she had spent "10 years in prison".Season 1, Episode 2 "Hung Out To Dry" In 1994, she won a wet T-shirt contest during her Spring Break vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida. Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo used a photograph of this as a source of amusement and possible blackmail in "Conspiracy Theory".Season 2, Episode 19 "Bikini Wax" Some time after college, she joined the United States Secret Service, and was eventually assigned to the President's security detail aboard Air Force One. Viewing her job as very demanding, she didn't have the time to meet someone outside of work, and started a romantic relationship with the Marine assigned as carrier of the presidential "Nuclear Football", Timothy Kerry, thereby breaking the Secret Service's rules which prohibit relationships between colleagues. Kate first encounters Gibbs' team as a United States Secret Service special agent assigned to the Presidential Protection Detail on Air Force One.
Storylines During "Yankee White", Kate resigns from the Secret Service before her superiors fire her for disobeying the fraternization rules; NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs recruits Todd almost immediately and assigns her to his team, pairing her with Anthony DiNozzo. She quickly becomes a key member of the Gibbs-led Major Case Response Team (MCRT) based at the NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Todd became the team's dedicated profiler and created psychological profiles on the suspects being investigated. She was first taken aback by NCIS' apparent disregard for the rules and protested at times, yet she came to find herself ignoring guidelines in order to obtain key information. In the episode "A Weak Link", for example, she suggests they hack into a classified database.Season 1, Episode 22 "A Weak Link" Todd's other skills include counterfeit bill analysis and protection detail,CBS character file. Retrieved on May 24, 2011 which she acquired during her time as a USSS Agent. Unlike Gibbs, Kate appears to get emotionally attached to victims as seen in the episodes "The Immortals" and "Left for Dead", during which she befriends a Jane Doe (Sherilyn Fenn) suffering memory loss after being buried alive. It is later revealed, however, that the Jane Doe had actually been deceiving Todd all along and she later killed herself and her lover. Similarly, Todd had an opportunity to kill Ari when he broke into the NCIS autopsy lab in "Bête Noire" and shot Gerald in the shoulder, but found she was unable to do so. Gibbs later chastized her for this.Season 1, Episode 16 "Bête Noire"
Her attitude contrasted vastly with DiNozzo's behavior, and they routinely argued over matters of privacy and personal boundaries: throughout the first two seasons, Todd was the prime target of DiNozzo's nosing, with the latter sneaking through her purse, cellphone, PDA and desktop computer on a regular basis, which infuriated her to no end. DiNozzo even went through Kate's trash to discover where she had eaten breakfast, much to her chagrin in "Doppelganger". Whereas Todd considered this outrageous and unacceptable, DiNozzo seemingly merely did this for his personal entertainment.Season 2, Episode 20 "Red Cell"Season 2, Episode 12 "Doppelganger" Conversely, DiNozzo is also the target of numerous taunts and regular teasing from Todd.Season 1, Episode 19 "Dead Man Talking"Season 1, Episode 13 "One Shot, One Kill" It is revealed in "Witness" that Kate had a phobia of going to the dentist but she eventually overcame it thanks to Tony giving her the number of a hypnotist.
A talented sketch artist, she sketches an accurate likeness of a suspect in the episode "Marine Down". During the same episode, it was shown that she had drawn caricatures of the team, some of which showed DiNozzo lusting after a pretty girl, and NCIS forensic scientist Abby Sciuto as a bat. She also drew one of Gibbs as well, but managed to take her drawing pad back from DiNozzo before he revealed it. In season three, when Ziva David joined the team full-time and moved into Todd's cubicle, she presented Gibbs with Todd's sketch pad. There were portraits of each cast member in it, including Gibbs.Season 3, Episode 4 "Silver War" McGee later finds one of Kate's sketches in his desk during season thirteen.
In addition to being excellent at drawing, Todd, like Abby, was greatly skilled in using a Personal digital assistant or a PDA. Kate's first PDA was destroyed during a practice test at the shooting range at the beginning of Season 1 episode "Marine Down" after Gibbs taped it onto her target to force her to shoot accurately. It had to be discarded as the warranty did not cover damage caused by bullets. She was later seen using a possible replacement in Season 1 episode "Eye Spy" and was always seen with one at various crime scenes, usually giving Gibbs and the team information. Despite being seen writing things with her right hand, Todd was seen operating her computer mouse with her left hand, suggesting that she may be ambidextrous. She also told Gibbs and DiNozzo during "Eye Spy" that despite being right handed, she played golf left handed, yet swung a bat and threw balls using her right hand.
Death Todd was assassinated during the season two episode "Twilight", after she and the team had successfully cleared a warehouse housing a known terrorist cell. After being officially relieved of the protection detail she had been assigned by Tom Morrow, Kate is shot in the head by sniper and Mossad double-agent Ari Haswari.
In "Kill Ari", it is revealed that he targeted and killed Kate merely because he wanted to cause Gibbs pain (even using a Bravo 51 nicknamed "Kate").Season 3, Episode 2 "Kill Ari (Part II)" During an imagined discussion with Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the morgue, Todd, who had been shot dead in the previous episode, explained that she had not been able to kill Ari because she had looked into his eyes and that there had been something kind in them. She also expressed regret at not killing Ari when she had the chance because she did not deserve to die. Seeking vengeance, Gibbs began a manhunt for Ari, who is eventually shot by his own half-sister, Mossad officer Ziva David. Kate's funeral is held in Indiana during "Kill Ari (Part II)". She is laid to rest with civilian honors, after she is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the behest of Gibbs and Director Jennifer Shepherd.
Legacy Kate has remained a significant part of the NCIS universe in the years following Alexander's final episode ("Kill Ari Part II"). In "Mind Games" (S0303), for example, DiNozzo tells Special agent Timothy McGee to ask Todd whether they have knee pads or not before recalling she is dead, while suspect Kyle Boone uses Todd's death in an attempt to intimidate Gibbs.Season 3, Episode 3 "Mind Games" In "Probie" (S03E10), McGee states that unlike Todd, he had no previous law enforcement experience before enlisting as a NCIS Special Agent, while in "Bait" (S03E18) a teenage student held his classmates hostage inside a classroom by threatening them with a bomb strapped to his chest. Gibbs and his team arrived on scene but were unable to get audio and video of the situation inside the classroom. Gibbs put himself in danger by offering himself as a hostage. While DiNozzo took charge of the team, the boy demanded that his mother be brought to the classroom by sunset, but the team discovered that she had been dead for a year. DiNozzo let Gibbs know by saying to the student that Special Agent Caitlin Todd was looking for his mother. A marine asked how Gibbs would know that the boy's mother was deceased. DiNozzo replied, "Special Agent Todd is dead." In "Hiatus, Part II" (S03E24) When Gibbs loses his memory Ziva reminds Gibbs of Todd's murder and of Ziva killing Ari before taking Gibbs' hand and using it to slap herself on the back of the head.Season 3, Episode 24 "Hiatus (Part 2)"