Earlier this month, the NCIS: Origins episode “Incognito” featured an unexpected appearance from a younger Tobias Fornell, whom Joe Spano has been playing on NCIS since it began in 2003, and whom Lucas Dixon is playing in this CBS prequel. With Origins taking place in 1991, Fornell, who’s lower down in the FBI hierarchy, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who’s only just started at NIS, haven’t met each other yet. But young Gibbs actor Austin Stowell is “looking forward” to when that day comes, and shared his reasoning during an interview that’s come as we wait for the next Origins episode to debut on the 2024 TV schedule.
Stowell stopped by the TVLine offices to chat about his work on NCIS: Origins, which, like the rest of the NCIS franchise, can also be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. When interview Matt Webb Mitovich asked Stowell if he’d have scenes with Dixon, the actor responded:
I don’t know. I’m hoping so. I’m sure at some point. They are so bonded in the mothership that they look out for each other. They work together all the time and they certainly can call upon one another in times of need. What is the origin of that bond? There has to be some kind of experience that they went through to truest each other, to depend on each other as much as they do. So I’m really curious to see where that goes, and he’s a terrific actor. I’m looking forward to it.
NCIS: Origins Season 1 takes place 12 years before NCIS begins, and while the flagship show’s first episode, “Yankee White” (which was called back to in the franchise’s 1,000th episode), presented Tobias Fornell and Leroy Jethro Gibbs as meeting each other for the first time, it was later retconned that they’d known each other for years. In fact, they’d both been married to the same woman, Diane Sterling, with Fornell marrying her after she divorced Gibbs. The two had a daughter together named Emily, but sadly Diane was assassinated by a terrorist and Emily died years later of an overdose.
As far NCIS: Origins goes, Fornell appeared when Mike Franks and Cliff Wheeler met up with Noah Oakley, Wheeler’s FBI contact who had information pertaining to the case in “Incognito.” Fornell was enjoying some tacos at the restaurant where they were together and shared an update on one of their suspects, although his lack of fully understanding the situation annoyed Franks. Seeing the younger version of the character was a welcome surprise, and like Austin Stowell, I’m looking froward to when his Gibbs and Dixon’s Fornell finally have their official first meeting and start building that bond of trust that’s lasted for decades.
Will that happen anytime soon? That’s hard to say. On the one hand, NCIS: Origins did get its first season expanded, so perhaps that improves the chances of fans seeing this meeting during the current TV season. On the other hand, if the show returns for Season 2, then maybe it will be saved for that batch of episodes. Either way, we’ll let you know whenever Gibbs and Fornell do come face to face on Origins.
