The story begins. It’s 1991 Camp Pendleton, Calif. and Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) has left the Marines to join the fledgling NIS in the series prequel NCIS: Origins.
Off camera, so it’s not clear who’s talking, we hear, “If he’s not up to snuff, cut him loose. He failed his psych eval. That is the definition of crazy.”
And the response—maybe from Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid)—is, “If my wife and daughter were murdered, I would be crazy, too.”
Kyle Schmid Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS
Crazy or not Gibbs begins his career as a probie, a newly minted Special Agent mourning the loss of his wife Shannon and daughter Kelly, who were murdered by drug dealer Pedro Hernandez, when he joins the gritty, ragtag investigative team led by the legendary Mike Franks.
Mark Harmon, who played Gibbs on the mothership, narrates the story of his younger self. He says, “No matter how hard you try or how far you go, you can’t ever leave it all behind. There’s no such thing as a clean slate,” which gives us a clue as to what the character is feeling at this point in his life.
TVLine first posted the first-look video. See it below.
The trailer also introduces the idea of the Gibbs gut for the first time when Franks tells his probie, “If you’ve got a gut feeling, you share it with the group.”
Also, seen in the trailer is Longmire vet Robert Taylor as Jackson Gibbs, Gibbs’ father, who doesn’t believe his son has the right stuff to be a Navy cop. This is a departure in story from NCIS because in the Season 6 “Heartland” episode we learned that Gibbs and his father became estranged because Jackson showed up to Shannon and Kelly’s funeral with a date and the two men hadn’t been in touch since, so Jackson didn't even know that his son had joined NCIS.
NCIS: Origins also stars Caleb Foote as Special Agent Randy Randolf, Mariel Molino as Special Agent Cecilia ‘Lala’ Dominguez, Bobby Moynihan as lead forensics analyst Woody Browne, Tyla Abercrumbie as Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Hayes, Daniel Bellomy as Granville “Granny” Dawson and Lori Petty as Dr. Lenora Friedman, the assistant medical examiner.
NCIS: Origins premieres Monday, Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS with two back-to-back episodes.
