Here’s a Sneak Peek at the New Talent in NCIS: ORIGINS
By Movieguide® Contributor
NCIS veteran Mark Harmon left the show in 2021, but his voice will return to narrate in NCIS: ORIGINS, where his character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs’, younger self starts his career along with several other fledgling agents.
“Mark Harmon has done a job that actors dream to do. He’s captured the world and so that is just slightly daunting,” said Austin Stowell, who plays young Gibbs. “But getting to know Mark has really been paramount to me stepping into these shoes and trying to fill them.”
Harmon advised Stowell, “This is a little different because some things are already in place and an audience knows where this leads years ahead,” adding, “Trust yourself.”
Movieguide® recently reported on the new show:
The series is unique in the NCIS-verse, as it’s the first show in the franchise set in the past, telling the backstory of already-known characters. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some surprises in store.
“They don’t know as much as they think they do,” Cross said of NCIS’ fans. “Seeing Gibbs arrive at NIS on Day 1, and seeing how Gibbs became Gibbs…? You will realize there’s so much to explore.”
Sean Harmon, Mark Harmon’s son, is the idea man behind the new series. He played young Gibbs in NCIS flashbacks.
“I believe that very few people are actually ‘born leaders’ and are instead forged into them, and Gibbs is no exception,” says Sean. “Digging into the backstory of ‘the boss’ seemed like a good opportunity to find out why Gibbs turned out the way he did and who was around to influence him on that journey.”
At Mark’s suggestion, NCIS writers David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal created the script. They asked Mark to lend his voice for the narration.
Monreal hinted that the new ’90s setting will be “refreshing” and different from what NCIS fans are used to.
“The two-hour premiere introduces a Gibbs fresh back from Desert Storm, grieving the loss of his wife and daughter and trying to get his bearings with a new team. One of them is a younger version of a face familiar to NCIS fans, Gibbs’ confidante, Special Agent Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid, SIX, in a role originated by Muse Watson as the older Franks),” said TV Insider.
“Franks is the one who brings Gibbs into NIS. It was an opportunity to perhaps save a lost soul,” says Schmid. “Taking on a character played by such a wonderful actor is a bit of a challenge. You have to play by a certain set of rules. The mustache is a trademark of Muse’s. I wear dark brown contacts every day at work. I took on a dialect coach, so Kyle Schmid now sounds like Mike Franks all the time.”
The rest of the cast are all new characters. Special Agent Cecilia Dominguez is played by Mariel Molino.
She said, “I’m interpreting someone who’s a former Marine, now a female agent at NIS and I’m excited to jump into that, especially in the Nineties, which is such an incredible era. I love that there are no [cell] phones, no internet, no social media. Everything we portray is direct contact.”
It’s not clear whether she and Gibbs will have sparks fly. As the saying goes, “opposites attract,” and these two are really similar.
“I’m trying to prove myself. It’s not a romantic vibe,” Stowell says. “They are kindred spirits, both bullheaded, stubborn and smart. They say opposites attract. So, what happens when people are the same?”
But Gibbs’ friend Agent Randy, played by Caleb Foote, isn’t like him.
“Gibbs is a bit of a lone wolf. Randy’s a bit of an extrovert. In this naval investigative setting, there’s hundreds of people, half of them in camouflage because it takes place on Camp Pendleton, and Gibbs is a deer in the headlights. Randy sees that and immediately goes out of his way to make this person feel welcome. We create a friendship pretty quickly,” Foote said. “It’s cool to create a character that helps Leroy Jethro Gibbs to become the great detective that he is.”
Supporting actors include Lori Petty, who lays Dr. Lenora Friedman, and Bobby Moynihan, who plays Woody Browne, head of the NIS forensics lab.
“I’m the goofy scientist who figures out weird stuff. It’s like working with the Muppets, you immediately realize you are not the important part. You’re just there to make the Muppets look awesome,” said Moynihan. “I’m splicing a lot of videotape. I have a hundred million [paper] files. I don’t have a laptop. They show the old tech.”
ORIGINS’ first case will have several connected murders “that bounce off of our characters in a really emotional way,” writer David North says.
“Gibbs is thrown into this job and he’s in over his head, but in a way, this case is tailor-made for him, so he has an opportunity to shine,” writer Gina Lucita Monreal said.
Gibbs’ NCIS character rarely showed emotion, but fans will get to see a lot more of that in his younger self.
“The Gibbs that Gina and I wrote for so many years had learned to push it all that emotion down. This Gibbs hasn’t learned that yet,” says North.
The series will kick off on CBS on Monday, Oct. 14, at 9 pm ET.
