Austin Stowell & Mark Harmon Talk ‘NCIS: Origins’ on CBS Mornings

NCIS: Origins’ New Gibbs Has An Even Greater Chance To Be Better Than Mark Harmon’s Version

SCREEN RANT – The Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS: Origins may be better than the original, thanks to one detail about the upcoming prequel spinoff. In 2024, the NCIS franchise announced that it would launch a prequel series to explore the backstory of central NCIS character Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The series will flash back to 1991, when Gibbs was getting his start at NIS (later NCIS). It was a pivotal time for the former gunnery sergeant, coinciding with what happened to Gibbs’ wife and daughter in NCIS. As such, NCIS: Origins will hone in on an emotional time in the character’s life.

While NCIS revealed Gibbs’ traumatic past, the prequel series will further explore how it affected his career change. The shift in Gibbs’ life at the time was inspired by his NIS partner and mentor, Mike Franks, who Muse Watson played in the original series. Kyle Schmid’s Mike Franks will join Austin Stowell’s Gibbs for the prequel series, as the character is necessary for the former Marine’s transition. The NCIS: Origins cast also features some new faces, but Gibbs is the focal point — and this version of him could be more interesting than Mark Harmon’s.

Austin Stowell’s Gibbs In NCIS: Origins Will Be More Emotional Than Mark Harmon’s

Gibbs Was Processing Trauma In 1991
In an Entertainment Weekly preview of the fall 2024-2025 TV season, the outlet shared a quote from Stowell about how NCIS: Origins’ Gibbs will compare to Harmon’s. Stowell confirmed that his version of the character will drastically differ from the version of Gibbs that audiences are used to seeing after Harmon’s 19 seasons on NCIS. Stowell explained that his Gibbs will be going through a painful transition, recovering from a tragedy he experienced four months before the series picks up. The prequel star said that his character is “not the guy fans are used to.”

What the Gibbs star revealed aligns with what is already known about the NCIS: Origins timeline. The series will pick up just a few months after Gibbs’ wife and daughter are killed in 1991, and Stowell’s description of his character makes sense given his grief. It’ll be fascinating to see NCIS: Origins elaborate on the tragedy revealed in “Hiatus,” one of the best episodes of NCIS. And with Stowell’s take on the NCIS character showing such a different side of him, he actually has an even better chance of winning audiences over.

NCIS: Origins premieres on CBS on Monday, October 14, at 9 p.m. ET.

NCIS: Origins Will Offer Something Completely New To The NCIS Franchise

SCREEN RANT – NCIS: Origins will introduce a new element to the NCIS franchise this fall, putting it in a league of its own. The prequel series will explore the origin story of one of NCIS’ central characters, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the former Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Major Case Response Team. Mark Harmon portrayed the character for nearly two decades until the Gibbs character departed the series in season 19 when the actor exited the franchise. Now, the character will experience a revival with a new character, with The Hating Games’ Austin Stowell playing young Gibbs in NCIS: Origins.

While the character will return, Mark Harmon will not, at least not in an on-screen performance. This is despite much anticipation for his return to the NCIS franchise. Harmon’s son, Sean Harmon, who played young Gibbs in several episodes of the original series, has also moved on from portraying the role, hence the recasting. The franchise decided it was time for the character to have a new representation, but the Harmons won’t be taking a back seat. Mark and Sean will executive produce the ’90s-set NCIS: Origins. Beyond that, Mark Harmon will bring something entirely new to the NCIS franchise.

NCIS: Origins Will Have A Narrator

NCIS: Origins will feature a narrator, separating itself from every NCIS series that predates it. The narrative element suggests that NCIS: Origins will rely more on an underlying story, which Mark Harmon will tell from the perspective of the older Gibbs. The narrative tactic is similar to how the narrator contextualizes every episode of How I Met Your Mother or, more recently, Young Sheldon. The latter series is a suitable reference for what to expect from NCIS: Origins, as Young Sheldon explores the origin story of a central Big Bang Theory character, Sheldon Cooper, with Jim Parsons narrating.

Harmon has a distinct voice, and audiences hearing it while experiencing another side of his character will certainly have an impact. Hearing Gibbs’s voice while watching a different chapter of his story will help tie the elements together and make a more cohesive origin story for dedicated NCIS fans. Harmon’s narrating track can plant the series in the past while forging a new NCIS future. The franchise has never had a reason to narrate any NCIS series thus far, so Harmon’s return will make for something entirely new.

NCIS Typically Follows A Case-Of-The-Week Forma

The narrative element of NCIS: Origins will distinguish the series from the rest of the shared NCIS universe. Until now, the NCIS franchise relied heavily on an episodic format with case-of-the-week offerings resolved in a single episode. This storytelling tactic allows the show to reset before starting another episode, allowing viewers to, for the most part, enjoy each episode independently of what came before or after it. The NCIS franchise is a significant player in the case-of-the-week procedural genre, and its spinoffs used to follow the same format. However, NCIS: Origins’s underlying narrator element will tie the episodes together more.

The NCIS franchise has experimented with its narrative offerings as it moves into the streaming era, as content is catered more to streaming platforms than television sets. When the franchise launched NCIS: Sydney in 2023, the show dabbled with a serialized storytelling format that saw many story elements carry through the episodes of season 1. NCIS: Origins further challenges what audiences expect from the franchise by presenting an origin story. The franchise will continue the trend of diversifying the way NCIS tells stories when NCIS: Tony & Ziva premieres on Paramount+, as it will also feature serialized storytelling.

How The Narration Will Change Gibbs’ Story

Introducing the narrative element to NCIS: Origins will subvert what’s known about Gibbs. Mark Harmon’s character guards his thoughts and feelings in the original series. For instance, the series held back what happened to Gibbs’ wife and daughter in NCIS until season 3. Gibbs’ tendency to keep his guard up and retain some mystery is elemental to the character. That said, as the older Gibbs narrates the series, he is bound to open up about what he was thinking and feeling during crucial times, which will disestablish a core trait of the Gibbs character as Mark Harmon presented him.

Additionally, NCIS: Origins’ premise is different from anything the universe has ever presented. As such, it will introduce new elements to the franchise to tell its story. While Mark Harmon will return to the role that established the entire NCIS franchise, he will now subvert the institution that he helped to create by adding an element that will add more depth to the characters and story. It’s a promising development for a series that has dominated CBS for nearly two decades. When NCIS: Origins premieres in October, it will break ground for the beloved procedural franchise.

Mark Harmon on Why Austin Stowell Is the Perfect Young Leroy Jethro Gibbs for ‘NCIS: Origins’

PARADE – To date, two actors have played NCIS’ Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Mark Harmon, who played the role for 18+ years, and his son Sean Harmon, who played the young Gibbs whenever the series called for flashbacks to relate Gibbs’ backstory.

Now, there’s about to be a third take on Gibbs set in the year 1991 when Austin Stowell takes over the role on NCIS: Origins. The spinoff series premieres Monday, Oct. 14 as part of CBS’ fall lineup, and Stowell has released a first-look photo at his portrayal of the U.S. Marine Corps sniper as he becomes an NCIS agent.

With the image, Stowell wrote: “Cannot WAIT to share what we’re working on.💥#NCISOrigins @NCISverse @CBStv”

Harmon, who will narrate the prequel series and also serve as an executive producer, took part in the casting, which he spoke to following the Television Critics Association press tour this July. He told Parade what he had been looking for in an actor to play the role he had made famous.

“I always thought there was a calm that was important,” Harmon said. “It’s a lot for an actor to come into a room with that kind of a burden of a load to try to say, ‘Can I physically look like that person? Can I be that person?’ I thought Austin just was himself.”

It wasn’t just Harmon who saw something special in Stowell, but executive producer and co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal as well.

“He walked out of the room, and she said, ‘That guy is a star.’” Harmon continued. “That’s what she said. The truth of it is he lit the room. You’re in a room for a long time with people coming in one after another and you just go with an instinct. That’s what we’ve done.”

Monreal elaborates, “What I was excited about was the fact that he had the core of what I think Gibbs is, which is this broken character but also this immense strength. I feel like that’s really a difficult balance to achieve, and I think Austin does that.”

Monreal and her co-showrunner and executive producer David J. North conducted a long and exhaustive search for the right actor to play the role and for good reason.

“This character means so much to the world,” said North, who previously wrote for NCIS as did Monreal. “And, honestly, so much to us. At times, you’re watching people, and something didn’t feel right. But Mark, he made his opinions known, certainly, but at the same time, he really told us to trust ourselves and what we wanted to do. And, luckily, Austin came along.”

The idea for NCIS: Origins was the brainchild of Sean Harmon, who, as mentioned, played the younger Gibbs when the mothership would do flashback stories to explain his backstory. But Sean decided he didn’t want to star in the series.

“It has been an absolute honor to have stepped into the role and essentially to play a character my dad created over so many years, and it will always be something I hold close to my heart,” Sean said. “But it was, in truth, something I never really figured I wanted to make a career out of. I have a lot of stories to tell. And I’m absolutely jazzed to be stepping into an executive producing role and working with my dad in a different way and, obviously, David and Gina, who are the absolute best. I mean, we couldn’t ask for a better team on this. As far as casting Austin, to be in that audition room when he walked in there and to feel his talent and professionalism, as well as [the fact] he is a natural leader, and he is, on top of it, he’s just a great guy. ”

As for how Stowell developed his winning performance, he said, “I didn’t get a chance to talk to Mark before my very first audition, and so I was going off of what was on the page. I had this incredible roadmap in front of me that David and Gina had written. There were these really rich complex scenes that I was able to dive into. This is a Gibbs that is dealing with the loss of his wife and child. This is not the Gibbs that the world knows right now, the team leader who’s always so put together. This is somebody who’s broken. This is somebody who’s searching for his identity, trying to find himself and ground himself back in the world. It wasn’t until I got in the room for my screen test that Mark came up to me and said two words that I’ll remember forever, and he just said, ‘Trust yourself.’”

NCIS: Origins will begin in 1991 when Leroy Jethro Gibbs starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid).

As for how it’s going so far, Harmon thinks they’re doing well and hopes the series gets a back nine, which should take it to 22 episodes for Season 1.

“It’s early, guys,” he said. “All I can tell you is this is a tough business and most of them don’t make it. We’ve got a shot here and I’m thrilled about this cast and thrilled about working with David and Gina. They’re as good as it ever got in 20-some odd years with creative on NCIS.”

NCIS: Origins will premiere on Monday, Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.