Exclusive NCIS: Origins First Look at Young Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Mike Franks — Plus, a Tour of the Set

Now 10 weeks out from the double-episode series premiere of CBS’ NCIS: Origins , TVLine has an exclusive first look at two key characters — “probie” Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Special Agent Mike Franks — in the NCIS prequel spinoff.

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Set in the year 1991, NCIS: Origins follows a young Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell, see photo above), a new agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office, as he forges his own path on a team led by the legendary Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid, photo below).

Though longtime NCIS fans may fancy themselves well-versed on Jethro’s younger days (which have been glimpsed in a half dozen or so flashback episodes over the past 21 years), “They don’t know as much as they think they do,” posits David J. North, who serves as co-showrunner on Origins with Gina Lucita Monreal. “Seeing Gibbs arrive at NIS on Day 1, and seeing how Gibbs became Gibbs…? You will realize there’s so much to explore.”

For example, “We’ve not seen that dynamic between ‘probie’ Gibbs and Mike Franks,” played on the original NCIS by franchise front man Mark Harmon and guest star Muse Watson, Monreal notes. Coming to NIS “so fresh out of the Marines, it gives Gibbs a different kind of shading than we’ve seen before as a character.”

Adds North, “The way he looks at Franks, you can see that bit of awe in his eyes.”

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NCIS: Origins’ series regular cast also includes Mariel Molino ( Promised Land ) as Special Agent Lala Dominguez, a former Marine with a dark sense of humor (and whose dynamic with Gibbs is “filled with sparks”); Diany Rodriguez ( The Blacklist ) as Special Agent Vera Strickland, “a no-nonsense, sharp-witted Brooklynite who’s tough as nails” (a character originated by Nip/Tuck ‘s Roma Maffia in the Season 11 NCIS episode “Under the Radar”); Tyla Abercrumbie ( The Chi ) as Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Hayes, a “mama bear” who has wryly dubbed herself “HSIC” — Head Secretary in Charge; and Caleb Foote ( Made for Love ) as Special Agent Benjamin “Randy” Randolf, the agency’s all-too-lovable “golden boy” tasked with showing Gibbs the ropes.

NCIS vet Mark Harmon, who starred on the mothership as Gibbs through early Season 19, will not appear in the series, but he will be heard as its narrator as well as serve as an executive producer. Sean Harmon, who played Young Gibbs in the aforementioned NCIS flashbacks and came up with the idea for the prequel series, will also serve as an EP.

Click below (or here for direct access ) to take a photographic tour of the oh-so-1990s NCIS: Origins set. And if you want scoop on the new series, you know the address: InsideLine@tvline.com !

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