Leroy Jethro Gibbs is back in action, sporting the familiar hat and jacket, as CBS releases the first look at the upcoming prequel series, NCIS: Origins. The newly unveiled photos feature Austin Stowell as a young Gibbs, dressed in an NIS hat and jacket, likely at a crime scene, while Kyle Schmid portrays Mike Franks, casually seated with his feet propped up on his desk.
NCIS: Origins is set to premiere on Monday, October 14 at 9/8c with a two-hour special, before settling into its regular 10/9c time slot the following week. The series takes viewers back to 1991, long before the events of NCIS, where Gibbs begins his career as a fresh special agent at the newly established NCIS office in Camp Pendleton. The show will explore Gibbs’ early years on a gritty, close-knit team led by the legendary Mike Franks, played by Schmid (Muse Watson portrayed Franks on NCIS).
“We’re seeing [Mike] at a point in his life where he has paved his own way and earned the respect of the agency,” Schmid previously shared with TV Insider. “Now he has the opportunity to build a team that he sees as being some of the most promising agents in NCIS. We get to meet those people and see those people grow. He is still at a point where he gets to mentor Gibbs. I think we’ll get to see why Gibbs was who the world fell in love with in the original NCIS and how he came to be that way. And Mike Franks is a big part of that.”
Joining Stowell and Schmid in the cast are Mariel Molino as Lala Dominguez, Tyla Abercrumbie as Mary Jo Hayes, Diany Rodriguez as Vera Strickland, and Caleb Foote as Bernard “Randy” Randolf.
What do you think of these first glimpses of Stowell and Schmid as Gibbs and Mike? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
NCIS: Origins, Series Premiere, Monday, October 14, 9/8c, CBS.
