Although Sean Harmon played a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs in a handful of NCIS episodes, it’s Austin Stowell who succeeded Mark Harmon in playing the character on a regular basis thanks to NCIS: Origins. The prequel series chronicles Gibbs’ first years working at what was then NIS, and not only is Season 2 still airing on the 2026 TV schedule, but Season 3 has also been officially greenlighted. So Stowell will continue playing the younger Gibbs for the foreseeable future, and he talked with CinemaBlend about how he doesn’t take this role for granted.
At the end of my recent interview with the actor that was tied to the episode where Gibbs met Shea Bucker’s Dwayne Pride (previously played by Scott Bakula on NCIS: New Orleans), I asked him if there was an aspect of playing Gibbs that he appreciates now, but didn’t necessarily jump out to him when he was first cast on NCIS: Origins. Austin Stowell started off by telling me about how there was someone in his personal life who died and “wasn't able to see the lessons from life,” and that he thinks about his person when playing Gibbs. Then he said:
It always gets me because I think why the show is so successful and why Gibbs became so meaningful to so many people is that they see themselves in him. That there are a lot of people out there who hide, who stuff things down. And they fill in that hole with a job, with taking care of a family with whatever it might be. And they're doing the right thing, but the right thing isn't always the best thing for them. And I think that Gibbs eventually does learn what to do for himself.
Mark Harmon debuted as Leroy Jethro Gibbs back in 2003 in the JAG two-parter “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown,” and he ultimately played the character on NCIS up until Season 19’s fourth episode. While Harmon still voices the character as NCIS: Origins’ narrator and even reprised him twice on camera in the series, it’s now Austin Stowell primarily carrying the Gibbs torch. He’s fully aware of how much the character means to so many people, and he also appreciates what a big deal is to play Gibbs at this stage of his life, explaining:
Article continues belowI'm at the point now where I'm feeling like Gibbs is going through it, man. Watch the episodes, he has the littlest bit of, of happiness, if that. OK, he gets married in Vegas, immediately the next day, ‘Well, you're late.’ He gets kicked around a lot, doesn't exactly get the accolades that one should get from the team. Pride and his boss march in there, and everybody thinks they're the greatest guys going. Gibbs has been there for a year and a half, has been a really important part of this team, has taken down bad guys, has been able to help find clues, lead them to close cases, to do their job. So it's not like every day showing up is great for him.
Gibbs and Diane Sterling got drunkenly married in Las Vegas in the NCIS: Origins Season 2 midseason finale, and we know their marriage won’t last. At least with Gibbs and Pride, “Feelin’ Alright?” ended with these two on better terms, though they’re still a ways off from as close as we saw in the NCIS Season 11 two-parter “Crescent City” from 2014. Austin Stowell then pointed out the complicated dynamic that Gibbs still has with Mariel Molino’s Lala Dominguez on Origins:
And then throw into the mix that he has feelings for a coworker that are complicated and hard and that he can't see through, that he just can't follow through with those feelings, what that would do to him constantly. And then to have the guilt of feeling feelings when you've just had your wife and daughter murdered a year ago, you've decided to engage in a new relationship to try and find happiness, that's all it is. It’s just trying to find happiness, man. It's the job, it's the boats in Gibbs’ pursuit of happiness.
Austin Stowell wrapped up by saying how despite everything Leroy Jethro Gibbs is going through in the early ‘90s, plus what’s to come in the following decades, he’s glad his character eventually reaches a point where he’s truly happy. That makes it worth it for him to play Gibbs during these rougher years, In his words:
And to know that there is relief coming for him, that he is ok. I love that he just says, ‘I’m OK. I'm here. This is what I wanna do. This is where I wanna be, that it all was worth it in the end.’ So I'm putting in the time now to make it worth it to a version of Gibbs that's coming down the road.
You’re welcome to stream the original NCIS with your Paramount+ subscription to see how Leroy Jethro Gibbs arrives to that point of relief. Otherwise, there’s still plenty to enjoy from NCIS: Origins, which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS. The next episode, “Homeward Bound,” will see Adam Campbell reprising the young Donald “Ducky” Mallard following his appearance earlier this season in “The Edge,” as well as his surprise cameo in the gut-wrenching NCIS episode “All Good Things.”
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