Stephen Amell Reveals ‘NCIS’ Audition Before ‘Suits: L.A.’

Before Stephen Amell landed the Suits spinoff series, Suits: L.A., he was actually gunning for another franchise spinoff in the NCIS universe. Among the eligible actors to play young Gibbs in was Amell, who told Michael Rosenbaum on his Inside of You podcast that the audition for the prequel came just days before Suits: L.A. landed in front of him. Via Deadline, the Arrow alum admitted his “focus wasn’t on Suits: L.A.“

“Two auditions came in [that week],” Amell shared. “My actual focus that week was on an audition that I had on Wednesday for the prequel to NCIS. It was playing the younger version of [Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs]. One was via Zoom, and this audition for suits was actually in person, which I remember being incredibly excited about because I don’t remember the last time [that happened].”

“This came in, and I thought that the audition went extraordinarily well. I got great feedback,” Amell continued. “I hadn’t looked at the sides for Suits: L.A. yet, and then I found out on Thursday afternoon, after getting not just good feedback, but, like, good intel, like, ‘We think [the series] is gonna move forward,’ all of a sudden, it was dead, and I felt like someone, somewhere along the line, had, like, c–k-blocked me… So I didn’t know what was going on, and I was frustrated.”‘

Austin Stowell ended up nabbing the role of young Gibbs, but Stephen Amell soon auditioned for the Suits spinoff, and he walked into the audition “with kind of no fear.” He continued, “[I] tried to be a lot looser and more spontaneous than I think probably a lot of other people were because this guy’s a lawyer. This guy’s supposed to be the smartest guy in the room, but, concurrently, I just figured everyone was going to be stone-cold serious, so let’s just have a little bit of fun.”

The offer was “conditional on a network test.” Creator Aaron Korsh knew “15 seconds into [the] audition that [Amell was] Ted Black. Even though it is a bummer that fans won’t be seeing Amell as young Gibbs, Suits: L.A. seems to be perfect for him, and it will be exciting to see what he brings to the role of Ted Black as the Suits universe expands. As of now, a premiere date has yet to be announced, but it’s possible Suits: L.A. or be held for the 2025-26 season.