NCIS: ORIGINS Star Austin Stowell Has This to Say About Mark Harmon

Published: November 20, 2024

NCIS: ORIGINS Star Austin Stowell Has This to Say About Mark Harmon

By Movieguide® Contributor

NCIS: ORIGINS star Austin Stowell says Mark Harmon has been “vocal” when it comes to advising him on stepping into Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ shoes.

“He gave [advice] to me right away in the room,” Stowell told Us Weekly. “He was vocal about — maybe not what to do — but certainly [he was] guiding me more in terms of posture and mindset, things that I’ve learned to inhabit all the more over time.”

The actor added, “He leads by example. He’s a guy who I’ve learned a lot more about being a human being than being Gibbs. He’s been so welcoming — not just to me and not just to the rest of the cast, but the whole crew. He’s really such a wonderful leader for us because he makes everybody feel so comfortable.”

NCIS: ORIGINS “follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs as he starts his career as part of the Naval Investigative Service operating out of Camp Pendleton,” per IMDb.

Stowell told PEOPLE that getting to take on the role Harmon made famous is a “tremendous honor.”

“I knew that I had something that I could bring to the role and I knew I had something inside me that felt very Gibbs-esque, and so to be tapped to play the guy is absolutely a confidence booster,” he shared. “It’s something that I take a lot of pride in.”

Stowell continued, “There are certain things that Mark does, and they are different to his other characters that he’s portrayed. And so I wanted to embody as much of that as I could and decide, okay, if this is day one with Gibbs, how many of these behaviors are innate to him, and how many of them get learned over time? And so that was fun.”

Harmon has also praised Stowell’s performance, telling PEOPLE, “I felt the room jump a little when Austin came in, before he said anything.”

“There was heavy competition there,” he continued. “There were a lot of good people. I would say that there were really few who drew the attention Austin did.”