NCIS and NCIS: Origins just aired their first-ever crossover episode on Nov. 11. The crossover featured the return of Mark Harmon as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a role he played for 19 seasons on the original NCIS series.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, NCIS: Origins creators David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal are dishing about what Harmon seemingly forgot about his iconic character. In the crossover episode, Monreal says the journey through the NCIS timeline focuses on “a cornerstone of [Gibbs’] personality,” a key aspect being his “steadfast dedication to victims’ advocacy, which at times can verge on obsession.”
Gibbs was also known for his famous rule, which is, “When the job is done, walk away.” Monreal said Rule No. 11 is “central to this episode,” and Harmon, in a cameo in the crossover, is seen reciting it at the end of the Origins portion of the two-part episode. North confessed that hearing Harmon say the rule aloud made him laugh. He added that when he told Harmon about the scene, Harmon told him something that “fans will get pissed off about” that could even “destroy some fans’ hearts.
“We were in the sound studio doing Mark’s voiceover with him the other day,” North began. “I was talking to him about what this is in episode 5, how so much of it is based on rule No. 11, ‘When the job’s over, walk away.’ And he said, ‘Man, the fans walk up to me nonstop and ask me about those rules.’ I said, ‘Do you know any of them? Do you know one of the rules?’ And he goes, ‘There’s one about a knife.’” Both North and Monreal had a laugh about Harmon’s take on what has over the years become a key feature of the NCIS series.
Gibbs Was Known for his ‘Rules’
Stills from NCISCBS
The naval police investigator also had several other rules including: “If it feels like you’re being played, you probably are.” “Bend the line, don’t break it.” “Never mess with a Marine’s coffee if you want to live.” Harmon’s Gibbs character left NCIS back in 2021, but he has remained a key figure in the franchise and even provides voiceover narration in the Origins series every week. In the crossover episode, Harmon is heard saying, “Thirty years go by faster than you think,” Gibbs intones in his typically commanding manner at the outset. “The details get fuzzy along the way, but the victims, the victims are hard to let go of. Back then, I thought maybe it would help to carry them with me. I cut out their pictures and stuck them in my notepad. When it comes to the job, people tell you to do the opposite; they tell you to lock them away, compartmentalize, they call it.”
In Origins, actor Austin Stowell plays a younger version of Special Agent Gibbs alongside actors Kyle Schmidt, Tyla Abercrumbie, Mariel Molino, Diany Rodriguez, Caleb Foote, and Patrick Fischler. NCIS and NCIS: Origins air on CBS and stream on Paramount+
Release Date
October 14, 2024
Directors
Niels Arden Oplev, John Terlesky, Diana Valentine, Edward Ornelas, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Lionel Coleman, Loren Yaconelli, Pete Chatmon, Pamela Romanowsky, Ruben Garcia, Jessica Lowrey
Austin Stowell
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Kyle Schmid
Special Agent Mike Franks