How NCIS: Origins’ Young Gibbs Will Be Different From Mark Harmon Explains Prequel Star: ‘There Are Many Firsts’

NCIS: Origins Star Austin Stowell has explained what makes his version of the iconic character Leroy Jethro Gibbs different. In the upcoming NCIS: OriginsIn what is a spinoff prequel show in 1991, Stowell will play a younger version of the character, who was famously portrayed by Mark Harmon in the first 19 seasons of NCIS. Harmon will provide narration for the new show, which also stars Mariel Molino, Kyle Schmid, Tyla Abercrumbie and Diany Rodriguez and is set to premiere on CBS as part of the fall 2024-2025 season.

as part of Entertainment Weekly‘s fall TV preview, they shared a quote from Austin Stowell teasing what to expect from his version of Gibbs. According to the actor, His version of the character is “Not the guy the fans are used to.“ In addition to being younger, he is “Went through a lot of pain“and experience”A lot of news in his lifeRead Stowell’s full quote below:

The Gibbs that we find in our show – this is not the guy that the fans are used to. This is someone who is going through a lot of pain. He suffered a huge tragedy just four months before we did the show, and there’s a lot of newness in his life. There are a lot of firsts going on right now.

What Austin Stowell’s quote means for NCIS: Origins

Gibbs’ emotional state can greatly affect his character

Austin Stowell’s quote about Gibbs’ emotional state in the new installment of the NCIS Shared universe squares with what’s already been revealed about the show’s plot and where it fits into the franchise’s overall timeline. The new series is Set up just a few months after the character’s wife and daughter were killedWhich would naturally lead him to be more emotionally raw than the more distant Gibbs seen in season 1 of NCISWhich takes place more than a decade later.

Gibbs’ emotional state will Probably make him a more malleable characterWhich is probably why so many firsts come up in his life as he begins his career as a special agent in the NIS Camp Pendleton office. This can bleed into his relationships with the other returning characters that are part of the cast NCIS: Origins cast, including his future mentor Mike Franks (Kyle Schmidt), whom he may see as a replacement for his late father Jackson Gibbs (Robert Taylor), whom he canonically hasn’t spoken to since the funeral, as revealed in a later NCIS episode.

NCIS: Origins’ Gibbs may feel like a completely different person

While Mark Harmon plumbed the depths of Gibbs’ character for more than two decades on screen including an uncredited appearance in a 2024 episode of NCIS season 21, NCIS: Origins is still exploring uncharted territory. By removing Gibbs’ experience as a special agent and Show him at one of the most emotionally vulnerable points of his lifeThe show is showing how an unformed and potentially directionless character eventually becomes shaped into the iconic television persona. As Stowell’s statement reveals, this is a version of the man that has truly never been seen before.

NCIS: Origins Premieres on CBS on Monday, October 14 at 9/8c.

Source: EW