Although Mark Harmon briefly appeared in NCIS: Origins’ opening episode and narrates the prequel series, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever his older Leroy Jethro Gibbs onscreen again. Austin Stowell’s Gibbs journey, on the other hand, isn’t ending anytime soon. We’ll see him back as the younger version of the proper procedural character when NCIS: Origins Season 2 premieres on the 2025 TV schedule this fall, and co-showrunner David J. North how the prequel series will explore the younger Gibbs evolving from a “probie” into a more assertive NIS agent.
Probie, of course, is short for probationary agent, i.e. when a newcomer joins NIS/NCIS. Timothy McGee was frequently called that by Tony DiNozzo on the flagship series, and he learned that term from Gibbs, who was called that by his mentor, Mike Franks. Gibbs earned that nickname when he joined NIS in 1991, mere months after his wife and daughter were killed. But can we expect to see him speak up more in Season 2 and have more of an active role on the team? Here’s what North, who co-runs the series with Gina Lucita Monreal, told TVLine:
We’re inching our way there, definitely, in a way that we think is honest for the character. I mean, just take the fact that in Season 1, we know Gibbs’ gut was churning a little bit about Bugs and thinking, ‘Maybe there’s more to this story?' But Gibbs didn’t go down that path, he didn’t gnaw at Franks and say, ‘Hey, my gut…’ — and he learned in the end he was right. Those are all stepping stones toward becoming the Gibbs that we met in 2003.
Obviously we’re a long way off from in NCIS: Origins from this younger Leroy Jethro Gibbs becoming the experienced leader we met over 20 years ago in NCIS’ backdoor pilot on JAG. He wasn’t even a full year into his law enforcement career by the time the events of the NCIS: Origins Season 1 finale unfolded. Still, I am glad that North and Monreal are giving this aspect of Gibbs’ characterization some thought, as it will need to fully addressed at some point.
Depending on how long NCIS: Origins runs for, I have a good idea about when Gibbs will make the transition into leadership. In the original NCIS, it was revealed that Mike Franks left NIS in 1996 and moved to Mexico following the United States’ government’s failure to stop the Khobar Towers bombing. If each season of Origins chronicles roughly one year, then Kyle Schmid would need to depart the series either by the end of Season 5 or early in Season 6 to stay true to continuity. That would pave the way for Gibbs to either take over the Origins team or decide to move across the country and start running the one we know and love from NCIS.
I’m getting way ahead of myself, as NCIS: Origins Season 2 doesn’t even have a specific premiere date yet. What we do know is that it’s being moved to Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET on CBS’ 2025-2026 fall TV lineup, sandwiched between NCIS and NCIS: Sydney. So I’ll just keep waiting for the next batch of episodes and think about how what the next stage of the younger Gibbs’ evolution will look like.
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