When it comes to television work, Jennifer Aniston will always be best known for playing Rachel Green on Friends, though these days, Apple
TV+ subscribers can see her playing Alex Levy in The Morning Show. But had history unfolded differently, she could have left a notable mark
in the world of procedurals too. It’s previously been rumored that Aniston had been up for a key role within the NCIS franchise, and while that’s now been confirmed, it turns out it wasn’t for the character we’d previously heard about.
Back in November 2023, as part of an NCIS 20th anniversary retrospective for THR, Charles Floyd Johnson, an executive producer on that show and JAG, mentioned he believed that Aniston’s name was “floated” as someone who could play Special Agent Caitlin Todd, who was ultimately played by Sasha Alexander and was a series regular in the first two seasons of NCIS (which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription). NCIS casting director Susan Bluestein acknowledged that Aniston’s name could have been discussed, but she didn’t remember the part being offered to her. Well, as it turns out, Aniston was actually being looked at to play Vivian Blackadder, a character from the JAG episodes “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown,” which served as NCIS’ backdoor pilot.