'NCIS' Prequel Casts Young Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Leroy Jethro Gibbs is coming back to the NCIS franchise, and his younger version has finally been cast. Although Mark Harmon's son, Sean Harmon, portrayed a younger version of his father in flashbacks of the Mothership series, he is not going to be reprising the role as he is focusing more on the producing side of NCIS: Origins rather than acting.

Variety reports that Austin Stowell will fill the shoes of Special Agent Gibbs pre-NCIS. The prequel series is set in 1991, where Gibbs "starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks." As of now, younger versions of Franks and Special Agent Vera Strickland have yet to be cast. But now that the lead is set, it's likely those and other roles will be filled soon if they haven't been already.

Stowell is most known for his role as Kyle Connellan in Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2 and as Francis Gary in 2015's Bridge of Spies. Other credits include Behaving Badly, In Dubious Battle, 12 Strong, Swallow, The Hating Game, 90210, NCIS: Los Angeles, Catch-22, The White Lotus, A Friend of the Family, and Three Women. While Stowell was not on our list of possible actors to play young Gibbs, it will surely be interesting to see what he will bring to the table. He does have some pretty big shoes to fill.

While neither Mark nor Sean Harmon will be playing Gibbs this time around on-screen, the father/son duo will be working on the series behind the scenes. They will both be serving as executive producers, while Mark is also the narrator. David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal serve as co-showrunners and executive producers of NCIS: Origins. They also co-wrote the pilot episode. The series will be produced by CBS Studios, which is also behind NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, and NCIS: Hawai'i.

NCIS: Origins is the latest series in the long-running franchise, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The newest spinoff to air was NCIS: Sydney, which aired its Season 1 finale Stateside in January. Also in development is a new spinoff centering on Michael Weatherly's Tony DiNozz and Cote de Pablo's Ziva David in Europe, which will air on Paramount+. As of now, a premiere date for NCIS: Origins has yet to be announced, but it will air sometime during the 2024-25 season on CBS.