Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly, two of the original stars of NCIS, will share the screen for the first time in a decade in an upcoming episode of the spinoff NCIS: Origins. The reunion is set for the episode airing on 20 October on CBS.
In the story, Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs travels to NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C., to ask for help from Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo, who is now the agency’s director. Gibbs was shot in the season three premiere of Origins, and the people behind the attack have now threatened someone else from his past, which forces him to turn to his former agent. The storyline forms part of the third season of Origins.
Harmon, who played Gibbs on the flagship series for many years, has been closely involved with Origins from the start as an executive producer and narrator. In the current third season he appears in all 10 episodes, playing a present-day mystery connected to his character’s time at Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Southern California, in the 1990s. The prequel otherwise focuses on a younger Gibbs, and Harmon’s on-screen return has given the show a direct link to the parent series.
Weatherly, meanwhile, is in the middle of an extended arc on the flagship NCIS, which began with the season 24 premiere when Tony was installed as director of the agency. Co-showrunner Steven D. Binder has suggested the storyline could run beyond its current plan. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened,” Binder said, while stressing that the decision rests with Weatherly. Harmon and Weatherly were mainstays of NCIS for years before both left the procedural, and their reappearance has been a recurring talking point among the franchise’s fans.
Both NCIS and NCIS: Origins recorded higher audiences for their season premieres this autumn, a sign that the franchise remains one of the network’s steadiest performers. The two shows air on Tuesdays on CBS as part of a franchise night alongside NCIS: New York, and episodes stream the following day on Paramount+. CBS Studios produces both series, and the network has not said whether further crossovers between the two timelines are planned after the reunion episode airs. For viewers, the episode offers a reversal of the characters’ old dynamic, with the former mentor now asking his one-time protégé, the agency’s new chief, for help.
