The time has come for fans of the NCIS franchise to reunite with Leroy Jethro Gibbs… but not in the present day. Instead, the clock is being wound back to the early 1990s for the prequel series NCIS: Origins, which will star Austin Stowell as a young Gibbs who’s just joined the title law enforcement agency. Two months after Stowell’s casting was announced, we now have our first look at the actor in character, and it makes me want to see him in action.
Following Mark Harmon’s nearly-20-year run as Gibbs on NCIS and his son Sean Harmon playing the character a handful of times in flashbacks, now Stowell is taking over the role for the upcoming CBS show. Check out how NCIS: Origins’ Gibbs will look below:
It’s not much, but I do like the way Austin Stowell is looking in this picture. Granted, it’s weird seeing any incarnation of an adult Leroy Jethro Gibbs without his Marine-style haircut, but it’s easy enough to envision him going through a phase where he let his hair grow out. This is a nice enough teaser image, but now I’m really craving a look at Stowell’s Gibbs hunting down bad guys in 1991.
NCIS: Origins will check in with the character shortly after his first wife and daughter were murdered by Pedro Hernandez, and Gibbs soon after gunned down the crime lord in revenge, though that wouldn’t become public knowledge until years later. Stowell’s Gibbs is recruited into NCIS by Mike Franks, played in this show by Kyle Schmid, and joins a team that includes Mariel Molino’s Lala Dominguez and Diany Rodriguez’s Vera Strickland. The show’s main cast also includes Tyla Abercrumbie as Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo.
Additionally, Robert Taylor has been tapped to play Jackson Gibbs, Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ father, as a recurring guest star in Origins. Other characters set to appear in the same capacity include Daniel Bellomy’s Granville “Granny” Dawson Caleb Martin Foote’s Benjamin “Randy” Randolf, both of whom are also NCIS special agents. Behind the scenes, Mark Harmon is narrating the series and executive produces alongside Sean and showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal.
While it hasn’t been announced yet when NCIS: Origins will premiere, my money’s on it arriving either in September or October on the 2024 TV schedule, rather than be saved as a midseason show. If that’s the case, hopefully a trailer will drop sometime this summer so we can see a little footage of Austin Stowell’s Gibbs and see how he compares to Mark Harmon’s portrayal. That should keep me sated enough until the show starts on CBS.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news concerning NCIS: Origins, and remember that all of the franchise’s shows can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. That platform will also be the exclusive home of the yet-to-be-titled Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David spinoff series.
