Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “The Edge” are ahead!
NCIS: Origins Season 2’s third episode shed a lot of light on Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, like why he talks to bodies, why he calls Leroy Jethro Gibbs by his middle name, and how he inspired Gibbs’ boat-building hobby. But one thing that didn’t need establishing was the distinctive hat that the character wore for so many years on NCIS. It was already part of his everyday attire, and as actor Adam Campbell and the Origins showrunners talked about with CinemaBlend, this was the exact same hat that the late David McCallum wore on the flagship series.
This bit of fashion trivia was revealed ahead of “The Edge” premiering on the 2025 TV schedule, and the episode’s opening scene ended with Dr. Walter Magnus, Ducky’s mentor at the NIS Washington D.C. office, reminding him not to forget his hat for his trip out to Camp Pendleton. During my conversation with showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal, I asked if it difficult to procure McCallum’s hat for Campbell to wear, or if it was just like any other piece of wardrobe. They told me:
David J. North: “It's not like any piece of wardrobe. It's definitely cherished, but they shoot the original NCIS up in Valencia, California, and we reached out to them and asked for the hat, and that's how that's how we had it. But yeah, it was a really cool thing and Adam was so excited.”
Gina Lucita Monreal: “Yeah, it was wonderful that they worked with us like that, and we shot on their set in their autopsy room, which again was just so special. So we're really grateful that they supported us in that way.”
It’s fortuitous that NCIS and NCIS: Origins film so close to each other, as I imagine there might have been some concern if the hat had to be flown across the United States. The Origins team could have easily just found a replica of the hat, and most viewers wouldn’t have been the wiser. But getting ahold of the original item was a nice touch for the episode (which can now be streamed using your Paramount+ subscription), as was the prequel series shooting that opening scene in the same autopsy room that’s a mainstay NCIS location.
In a separate interview with Adam Campbell, who portrayed Ducky for the fifth time following four appearances on NCIS, I asked him what it was like for him to wear David McCallum’s hat, as well as if he felt like he had to be extra careful with it. The actor answered:
It was quite moving when wardrobe actually brought the hat out and said this was David's hat. And I said, ‘Am I actually going to be allowed to wear it?’ And they said, ‘Yes, you absolutely can.’ Not to be too dramatic, but it felt a bit like the placing of a crown upon my head. It felt quite momentous to actually have some of these trinkets that David wore for decades. Yeah, I was really touched that we had access to that stuff.
Donald Mallard headed back to D.C. after helping the Camp Pendleton team with their latest case and determining that they were doing just fine without an in-house medical examiner. But with 11 years that pass between “The Edge” and when we meet David McCallum’s Ducky in the NCIS backdoor pilot that aired on JAG, hopefully there will be more opportunities to bring him back to NCIS: Origins. If/when that happens, that hat better be along for the ride again.
NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS. Next week’s episode will introduce Mike Franks’ estranged brother, Mason, played by Philip Winchester, and the episode the week after will be the prequel’s half of the decades-spanning crossover with NCIS.
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