NCIS: Origins may take place more than a decade before the original NCIS begins, but the new prequel series airing on the 2024 TV schedule is also working off of lore established in its predecessor. So far, this hasn’t been much of an issue, with a good example being how the latest episode’s depiction of Leroy Jethro Gibbs killing Pedro Hernandez matching pretty closely with the bits and pieces shown on NCIS many years ago. However, there have already been some retcons in Origins, and when CinemaBlend spoke with executive producer David J. North, he discussed the process of figuring out when to tweak certain things and when to closely follow the NCIS mythology.
The specific retconning example I brought up when interviewing North was how the episode “Bend, Don’t Break”, it was established that Mike Franks met Jackson Gibbs, Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ father, during his investigation into the murders of Leroy’s wife and daughter, Shannon and Kelly. And yet, in the NCIS Season 8 premiere “Spider and the Fly”, Leroy introduced his father to Franks. When I pointed out this discrepancy to North, he said to me:
Yeah, there'll always be those little moments. I think if you went back and watched that scene, you could certainly re-spin it that [Gibbs] just said to [Jackson], “Dad, meet Mike Franks,” reminding him of [Franks]. But yes, if you wanna stick to the actual exact words… We try to stay true to the canon as much as possible. Certainly when we don't, people get frustrated, but the reality of it is, unfortunately, NCIS canon doesn't always stay true to NCIS canon. There's a lot of different paths that they've gone down.
He’s not wrong about how NCIS has contradicted its own canon numerous times over the years. For example, in that show’s very first episode, “Yankee White”, Gibbs and Tobias Fornell were presented as meeting each other for the first time. Yet later on, it was was firmly established that they’d known each other for years and were both previously married to Diane Sterling. That’s not to say NCIS continuity overall is a tangled mess, but it could certainly be considered bent.
David J. North’s suggestion that the moment between Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Jackson Gibbs and Mike Franks in “Spider and the Fly” could now be viewed as Leroy reintroducing his father Franks could technically work, especially since this NCIS episode takes place roughly 20 years after what was shown in “Bend, Don’t Break”. Ultimately though, North, who shares Origins showrunning duties with Gina Lucita Monreal, informed me that while steps are taken to keep track of NCIS canon, what’s more important is to prioritize what makes the stories in this TV show better, history or not. As he laid out:
So we have to really pick the one that we think is the most honest and stick with it. But it's very, very important to us. We have a whole team of people that are constantly helping us with it. I see sometimes online people say, ‘They should watch the original.’ Well, I wrote a whole lot of the original. I know it very well and we try to stay true to it wherever we can, but we have to tell the stories honestly, and sometimes we have to pick a path because there's multiple.
Again, for the most part, NCIS: Origins has been staying true to the history laid out in NCIS, but if an opportunity comes along that requires changing the canon to better fit a story, they’ll take it. If any other major divergences crop up, we’ll let you know as part of our continuing coverage on the prequel series. Besides, like David J. North said, he goes way back with NCIS, having been a producer on 10 seasons of that show and written dozens of episodes. He knows his way around this universe pretty well.
The NCIS: Origins midseason finale airs next Monday at 10 pm ET, and Season 1 will resume January 27 on the 2025 TV schedule. Use your Paramount+ subscription to revisit the episodes the have been airing since mid-October.
