NCIS Prequel Is Underway as CBS Has Cast a Lead to Play Young Jethro Gibbs

Summary

• The NCIS franchise is about to get a prequel series.
• Subtitled Origins, the new spin-off will follow a younger Gibbs at the beginning of his career in the NCIS unit.
• The actor cast to play the character has had many notable roles, including an episodic appearance on NCIS: Los Angeles.

The fourth episode of the highly anticipated twenty-first season of NCIS, delayed due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, premiered a few days ago. Now it's almost three weeks until episode 5 is released. Naturally, fans of the iconic CBS procedural drama aren't thrilled about the three-week hiatus, but the network has given them something to be excited about.

Recently, CBS announced a new project in the sprawling NCIS franchise, which includes Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawai'i and Sydney in addition to the main show. Together, the series have spanned nearly a thousand episodes over forty-six seasons, making it one of the biggest franchises on television. Now, a prequel series following the beloved Jethro Gibbs in his earlier years is set to expand the NCIS universe.

NCIS: Origins

The unpretentiously titled prequel is set in 1991, twelve years before NCIS debuted in 2003, and will follow a younger version of Jethro Gibbs as he begins his career with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Austin Stowell of Catch-22 and the Dolphin Tale franchise fame has been cast by CBS to portray the character. Remarkably, the actor, who turned thirty-nine in December, is exactly twelve years younger than Mark Harmon was at the start of NCIS.

The original Gibbs actor, who left NCIS in season 19, will reportedly serve as an EP and narrator on Origins. Sean Harmon, who previously played a young Jethro Gibbs in various flashbacks, will also executive produce the prequel. Austin Stowell himself is no newcomer to the NCIS franchise. The actor had an episodic role in season 2 of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Written and produced by David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal, who have each written nearly two hundred episodes of NCIS, Origins will see a young Jethro Gibbs take his first steps at the budding Camp Pendleton office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The prequel was reportedly given a straight-to-series order by CBS in January and is set to premiere during the 2024-2025 broadcast season.

Austin Stowell's Career

In addition to starring in Catch-22 and the Dolphin Tale film series, the actor has had a number of memorable roles. For example, in 2022, Stowell played a recurring character, an FBI agent, in Peacock's true crime drama A Friend of the Family, which explored the two-time kidnapping of Jan Broberg by her parents' close friend Robert Berchtold. Stowell's character led the investigation into the abduction.

Episode 5 of NCIS Season 21 will premiere on March 25.