NCIS: Origins is right around the corner, and fans will be introduced to a very different Leroy Jethro Gibbs than they all know and love. Mark Harmon originated the character on the JAG backdoor pilot and was basically the face of NCIS for nearly 20 years until he exited the series towards the beginning of Season 19. While he will be returning to the franchise for the first time since his exit for a new spinoff, someone else will be taking on the Gibbs mantle.
Starring Austin Stowell as a young Gibbs, Origins takes place years before the events of NCIS in the '90s, where Gibbs is a newly-minted NIS agent at the fledging Camp Pendleton. With the show taking place after he loses his wife and daughter, a storyline frequently brought up on the Mothership, Gibbs will be in a different headspace since it's all so fresh. Stowell told Entertainment Weekly, "The Gibbs that we find in our show — it's not the guy that the fans are used to. This is someone who's going through a lot of pain. He's suffered a tremendous tragedy just four months before we pick up this show, and there's a lot of newness in his life. There's lots of firsts going on right now."
Even years after the tragedy, Gibbs was still grieving. Every once in a while, there would be a storyline centered around the tragedy, or it would occasionally be brought up. Now that fans will be seeing the direct aftermath of it and how he copes, it will give them a new insight into this character that is so beloved and perhaps a side that they've never seen before. With the NCIS: Origins cast also including his father, Jackson Gibbs (Robert Taylor), it should be interesting to see what happens. Fans know that Gibbs and his father didn't talk for years after Shannon and Kelly died, so how that dynamic plays out will be one to look out for.
NCIS: Origins will be an emotional and intense series, but one fans won't want to miss. It won't be long now until a new series joins the long-running franchise, with plenty more stories waiting to be told. Also starring Mariel Molino, Kyle Schmid, Tyla Abercrumbie, and Diany Rodriguez, the two-hour series premiere of NCIS: Origins airs on Monday, Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.