'NCIS' veteran star announced his return for the upcoming season

While the other actors of the hit television series, NCIS, are leaving to pursue other interests, David McCallum is set to return in season sixteen.

The 84-year-old actor, who is best known for his role as Donald Mallard, a medical examiner on NCIS, made the announcement on Facebook on April 30, 2018.

However, McCallum also said that spending time with his family takes priority and his filming schedule will be molded around his family life.

Though McCallum signed for a limited schedule and will only appear in approximately half of the season's episodes, fans are still excited that he will continue to star in NCIS, as reported by Pop Culture.

The good news came as a relief to the show's fans who are still trying to come to grips with Pauley Perrette's upcoming departure. Perrette portrays the part of Abby Sciuto on the hit show.

To make matters worse, her departure might be a painful exit. In One Step Forward, Sciuto was shot in what appeared to be an attempted mugging, and the screen cut to black just as the bullet shot rang out.

Previews of the upcoming episode showed Sciuto in hospital, and the prognosis appears to be grim as medical professionals try to save her life.

Perrette stepped into Sciuto's shoos in the pilot episode of NCIS, Yankee White. She filmed more than 350 episodes and also appeared in the spin-off shows, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Los Angeles.

McCallum and Mark Harmon are the last remaining actors from the show's 2003 origins.

Harmon, who has appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s, plays the part of special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.

McCallum appeared in a record-breaking 354 episodes over the course of the past fifteen years.

Deadline reported that he also appeared in The Man From U.N.C.L.E in the early sixties, which garnered him three Primetime Emmy nominations for his stellar performance.

The veteran actor was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Male TV Star in 1966. Later that year, he won the Golden Laurel award in the category of New Male Face.