As long as NCIS: Origins is airing, there’s going to be fans asking when younger versions of characters from the original NCIS are going to appear. Well, now we finally have one locked in for the prequel’s second season with a little less than two months to go until it premieres on the 2025 TV schedule. Not only is NCIS: Origins Season 2 going to feature young Donald “Ducky” Mallard, this appearance will also include a touching tribute to “honor the memory” of the late David McCallum.
Adam Campbell, who played Ducky in his younger years in four NCIS episodes, is set to reprise his role for an episode titled “The Edge.” The story will see Ducky traveling to Camp Pendleton to show the team as they work a case, which will bring him back into contact with Leroy Jethro Gibbs for the first time in years. Their first meeting was depicted in the NCIS Season 18 episode “Everything Starts Somewhere,” which featured flashbacks set in 1980 and was back when Sean Harmon was playing young Gibbs.
Additionally, “The Edge” will also feature David McCallum’s song of the same name, which he recorded in the 1960s and has previously been featured in Grand Theft Auto IV and Baby Driver. NCIS: Origins showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal said the following about paying tribute in Season 2 to McCallum, who passed away on September 25, 2023:
We wanted to do this episode to honor the memory of our dear friend David McCallum. He was a beloved member of the NCIS family for so many years and we're incredibly lucky to have the talented Adam Campbell back to bring the younger version of this iconic character to life once again. We even got to feature David's music in the episode. We’re all very excited and can’t wait for the fans to see it!
This will be the second time the NCIS franchise has honored David McCallum. The NCIS Season 21 episode “The Stories We Leave Behind” saw Ducky passing away in his sleep and that show’s team solving a case that the former chief medical examiner had taken on shortly beforehand. The episode aired on February 19, 2024 and also featured a surprise cameo appearance from Michael Weatherly’s Anthony DiNozzo
David McCallum was one of the original five NCIS series regulars alongside Weatherly, Mark Harmon, Sasha Alexander and Pauley Perrette. He stuck around as Ducky Mallard for the show’s first 20 seasons, although he made reduced appearances starting in Season 15. It was also noted in the NCIS Season 6 episode “Broken Bird” that Ducky joined the law enforcement agency in December 1992, so it sounds like NCIS: Origins’ “The Edge” could show him deciding to do so as he’s reconnecting with Gibbs.
NCIS: Origins Season 2 premieres Tuesday, October 14 on CBS, though it wasn’t divulged when “The Edge” will air. The prequel certainly wasn’t obligated to craft a tribute episode to the late David McCallum, but I’m glad they decided to do so and am looking forward to seeing Adam Campbell’s Ducky interact with Austin Stowell’s Gibbs.
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