The NCIS franchise is going so strong and for so long that it's easy to forget nowadays that it actually began with JAG back in 1995, years before the first NCIS debuted in 2003. JAG ended after ten seasons, and fans have watched the franchise move on to now include NCIS: LA and NCIS: New Orleans on top of original NCIS. Now, however, JAG star David James Elliott has signed on to reprise his role as Captain Harmon "Harm" Rabb Jr. for the first time since 2005 for NCIS: LA.
Yes, David James Elliott will be back on the small screen as Harm for the first time in nearly 14 years, and it won't just be for a cameo or one-off guest appearance. Elliott will reprise Harm for a multi-episode arc, beginning with the episode set to air on May 12. THR reports that the episode, called "The Guardian," will see the NCIS team uncover a group of ISIS sympathizers planning to attack American aircraft carriers. This brings Callen and Sam in contact with Harm, who is captain on the USS Intrepid.
Well, that seems to reveal what happened after the mysterious ending of JAG! The series finale of that series saw Harm and Mac flip a coin to see which one of them would retire their Navy commission so that they could be together, and it never revealed who would quit and who would stay on. If Harm is the captain of an aircraft carrier, then it appears Mac was the one who resigned after the coin toss.
That, or the relationship didn't work out and they both continued at the Navy. The episode description makes no mention of Mac, and Catherine Bell hasn't been announced as a guest star as well. However their relationship turned out, NCIS: LA will apparently have to update viewers without Mac on screen. It's not yet clear how many episodes will comprise the Harm arc, but NCIS: LA executive producer R. Scott Gemmill has weighed in on David James Elliott's return, saying this:
I was really excited to get a chance to work with David again. I did the first four seasons of JAG with him, so to be able to work together again in and of itself is great — but to do so with the same character on [NCIS: Los Angeles] this many years later —that's pretty damn amazing... Bringing Harmon Rabb to work with NCIS: Los Angeles makes for a formidable coalition, and both entities are going to need all the help they can get when confronted with the greatest challenge of their careers.
JAG fans will undoubtedly be interested to see how Harm has changed in the last 10+ years. David James Elliott will have to play the same character at a very different place in his life than where he was last seen, and JAG was a very different show from NCIS: Los Angeles. Will this be the Harm we remember, or somebody almost unrecognizable? Or somebody in between?
Only time will tell. In the years since the end of JAG, David James Elliott appeared in a number of TV projects, including Mad Men, Secrets and Lies, and Impulse. He's also attached to appear in Netflix's upcoming figure skating series, called Spinning Out.
Be sure to tune in to NCIS: Los Angeles on Sunday, May 12 to see David James Elliott back in the mix of the franchise. If all goes well, he may be able to interact with Hetty, who spent much of the current season off-screen, for very valid reasons. She did return for the big wedding episode, and we can only hope that she'll be around more often in the future.
