Austin Stowell from Origins discusses his transformation into a young Gibbs | Entertainment

When Mark Harmon departed NCIS after 19 seasons in 2021, it felt like the ultimate time that followers would see his legendary character Leroy Jethro Gibbs grace their tv screens ever once more. However, simply three years later, Harmon is formally bringing the particular agent again in a model new means.

NCIS writers and government producers David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal inform Entertainment Weekly that Harmon reached out one 12 months in the past about a undertaking that he’d been engaged on with his son, Sean. The thought would go on to develop into NCIS: Origins, a prequel sequence that chronicles Gibbs’ first days at NIS Camp Pendleton — the precursor to NCIS — below group chief Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid). Harmon, who serves as an government producer on the sequence alongside his son, additionally lends his voice as its narrator. 

“One of the biggest jobs in creating NCIS: Origins was just going back to the original show and seeing what the timeline is, and how do we fit into that, and honor all of the things that have already been said and done in the original show,” Monreal, who serves as co-showrunner with North, explains over the telephone from set. “So it's like this giant puzzle that we're working with.” 

Another piece was discovering an actor who may fill Harmon’s historic sneakers. That is, till Austin Stowell entered the room. “We just knew when Austin came in that he was Gibbs,” he recollects. “He embodied it. His talent is limitless — his dedication to the role, studying Mark, studying the show — he has a similar leadership quality that Mark had on set that bleeds into Gibbs the character.”

Stowell, whose credit embody Bridge of Spies and The Hating Game, remembers the precise date (January eighth!) that he first realized about NCIS: Origins. After an preliminary studying, the 39-year-old was jetted out to Los Angeles for an audition with Monreal, North, and Mark and Sean Harmon all in attendance. “At the end of the audition, after some direction from Mark, he said, ‘There you go. If I were you, I would just walk out of the room right now,’” Stowell recollects. “So I just walked out of the room. I went back to Vermont and went back about my life.” 

When North and Monreal referred to as Stowell to inform him he'd landed the function one month later, the actor practically did not decide up. “Where I live is off the grid a bit,” Stowell explains. “I walked back into the house, just got back on to service again, and there was a phone call coming through. So, truly, two minutes before then, I wouldn't have gotten the call. And it was David and Gina and they were telling me that, essentially, my life was about to change.” (The trio are conscious that Stowell virtually lacking the decision as a result of he was in nature would possibly simply be probably the most Gibbs factor ever. “We laughed so hard about that,” North says.)

After studying he'd landed the function, Stowell started pouring himself into it each mentally and bodily, studying the whole lot he may in regards to the Marines and adapting his health program. He’s additionally been “doing my due diligence to the fandom” by catching up on as many NCIS episodes as he can, typically becoming them in whereas on the health club or cooking.

“When I first met David and Gina, they asked if I was going to be ready for such a big commitment like this and I told them, ‘You always have all of me,’” the actor confesses. “I just want to give everything to this. I know what it means to the fans. I know what Gibbs represents to a whole lot of people out there. I know what the show represents to a whole lot of people out there, and I don't want to let them down. I'm giving everything I can to give them something new and fresh, but also something tried and true at the same time.” 

It helps that the Gibbs viewers meet in NCIS: Origins has but to totally embody the no-nonsense particular agent from the unique sequence. “The Gibbs that we find in our show — it's not the guy that the fans are used to,” Stowell explains. “This is someone who's going through a lot of pain, going through a time in his life where he doesn't even know if he wants to stick around, quite honestly. He 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.” 

NCIS followers will recall that it was revealed within the third season that Gibbs’ spouse, Shannon, and daughter, Kelly, had been each murdered previous to the occasions of the present. He could be very a lot nonetheless reeling from the immense lack of his household on NCIS: Origins. “I think this is totally fair to say that our show is a bit darker, a bit more introspective, than the Mothership,” Stowell says, referring to the unique sequence. “It's a more raw look at these characters. Gets much more personal.” 

Along the way in which, Gibbs will get to know his fellow brokers — from golden boy Benjamin “Randy” Randolf (Caleb Martin Foote) to Vera Strickland (Diany Rodriguez), Franks' first accomplice who beforehand appeared in a 2013 episode of NCIS. And, talking of Franks, Gibbs' bond with the brusque group chief, performed by Muse Watson on NCIS, may even be examined. “The dynamic between Gibbs and Franks is complicated,” North says. “It's one that's cloaked in secrecy to the other team [members], but it's also very much a father-son relationship.” 

Together, Monreal says the group will discover a new case every week, with a bigger case that “really gets under a team's skin in a deeper way” looming throughout the season. However, given the technological restraints of the ‘90s, they're going to have to make use of some ingenious strategies to trace down their suspects — and make the most of a few pay telephones, CB radios, microfiche machines, and pagers, too.

“A show like this, you're so used to going down to, say, Abby's lab or Kasie’s lab, seeing her fingers dance on a keyboard and pull up DNA, and you find your suspect. We don't have any of that,” North says. “That's actually solved by investigation abilities and pondering issues by. We're utilizing the emotion of the characters to essentially reveal who our characters are within the technique of working these whodunnit circumstances.” 

While Stowell is not making an attempt to do an impression of Gibbs, he is conscious there's a lot he can be taught from Harmon in regards to the character. “He's lived this for 20 years, and he has this helpful knowledge about the character and about how he approaches certain things,” he says. “There are certain behaviors, and certain… call them lines in the sand, that are strong within Gibbs. And so I wanted to make sure I was paying respect to the man and to the character.”

He provides that he has frequent conversations with Harmon, Monreal, and North on the best way to finest showcase Gibbs’ evolution all through the season. “We talked about Gibbs Sense, like Spidey Sense,” he teases. “He isn't fully formed. And again, that's a big part of what I loved about this opportunity is that I get to go on that journey with the audience [and see] how Gibbs becomes Gibbs.” 

And, much more than Gibbs, Monreal hopes that the present's discovered household dynamic will entice each new and longtime followers of the franchise. “I think what makes the original NCIS so watchable and so beloved is that it's really about a family, and we've tried to do that here,” she says. “We've created a family with our agents, and I hope that those family bonds shine through for our audience, and they want to come spend time with our family every week.”

NCIS: Origins premieres on Monday, Oct. 14, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, on CBS.