‘Tis the era for networks and streaming services to expand upon established successes with spin offs. That concept is nothing new, of course, but the strategy has gone into overdrive with Billions beginning to multiply Showtime and Amazon putting followups into motion for Bosch with spin offs for both Jack Ryan and The Terminal List in the works, too.
As well, revived hits like Suits will now be branching off, NCIS-style, with Suits: LA. And speaking of NCIS, that series has already spun off a few times already (with NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai’i;, and NCIS: Sydney), but that isn’t enough. A few more shows are coming with focus upon former NCIS characters with Michael Weatherly and Cote De Pablo signing on for a show about where Tony and Ziva are at these days. Additionally, a prequel series about the early days of Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs is coming. Of course, it’s worth remembering that NCIS was actually a spin off of JAG, so at least this franchise already has experience with branching out. Let’s talk about what to expect from the most swiftly upcoming NCIS spinoff.
Plot
NCIS: Origins will focus upon the earlier career days of Gibbs, who of course left NCIS in 2021 after Mark Harmon portrayed the head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for 18 seasons. This lead character debuted, along with Abby (Pauley Perrette) and Donald “Ducky” Mallard (the late David MacCallum) in JAG before NCIS formally launched in 2003. The series has previously shown flashbacks of Gibbs’ earlier career and life, both of which have been complicated by his personal history. That includes Gibbs’ strained relationship with his father, Jackson, and the death of his wife and daughter.
Speaking of the latter two Gibbs family members, devoted NCIS junkies have noticed a glaring continuity error in the Leroy Jethro Gibbs timeline. That would be the question of how long, exactly, Gibbs has been on the NCIS career path (either 1984 or 1991), and in light of that discrepancy, it might not seem so strange that we have seen “younger” Gibbs onscreen prior to now, but he will be portrayed by a fairly different-looking actor in the prequel series. Presumably, Mark Harmon’s own son, Sean, wasn’t interested in the role, although both Harmons are onboard the prequel series as producers.
NCIS: Origins is formally set in 1991 and will dig into Gibbs’ earliest days investigating Navy-related crimes, around 12 years prior to the original NCIS series. So, we are unlikely to see an earlier version of Abby, who was surely far too young in 1991 to be kicking around in a forensics lab. However, the show’s 400th episode did reveal that Gibbs and Ducky first met back in 1980, so hey, there’s a chance that we could get to see some whippersnapper version of Ducky (fingers crossed). From the prequel’s description:
Origins will find Gibbs starting his career as a new special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office. He takes his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (played by Muse Watson in the original series).
Cast
Austin Stowell (previously seen in Hulu’s Catch-22 and Peacock’s A Friend of the Family) will play fledgling Leroy Jethro Gibbs. There isn’t a striking resemblance between Stowell and what audiences remember Mark Harmon looking like back in his Summer School days, but surely, people can suspend belief for the love of this franchise.
Release Date
CBS has added NCIS: Origins for debut within their 2024-25 schedule, so we can cross fingers for a late 2024 premiere. A full first season has been ordered thus far.
Trailer
Filming has yet to begin, so of course, no trailer exists yet. However, it’s always worth looking back at this mashup of “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs” from the mouth of Pauley Perrette’s Abby: