Actor and executive producer Mark Harmon remembers a version of NCIS that longtime fans might find hard to picture: a show still trying to find its audience.
“It took this show a long time to get a hook in an audience.” Harmon shared that memory in an Entertainment Tonight interview clip the outlet posted Oct. 6.
In the short video, Harmon looks back on the original drama’s difficult beginnings and the time it received to grow. He connects that experience to NCIS: ORIGINS, the prequel that now brings him back in front of the camera as Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
That is a different way to talk about a television comeback. Rather than dwell only on viewers getting their favorite character back, Harmon points to the people whose work makes the series possible.
Asked about the importance of Gibbs’ return, he emphasizes the jobs and the cast. He also admits that appearing on camera in the prequel was not something he expected, and says he wants to pitch in.
“I just think that decisions make things happen sometimes.” Harmon makes the observation while discussing his involvement in the show.
CBS’ Season 3 description explains the setup: Harmon’s present-day Gibbs appears in every episode as a mystery connects his life now to his Camp Pendleton days in the 1990s. Actor Austin Stowell continues to play the younger Gibbs, while Harmon also narrates the series.
The two timelines give the prequel more than one perspective on the same man. One follows the younger investigator; the other revisits the past through the older character audiences already know.
Harmon’s work on ORIGINS extends behind the scenes, too. CBS lists him among the executive producers alongside his son, executive producer Sean Harmon, and executive producer David J. North, whose idea Mark praises in the clip.
That blend of work and family has mattered to Harmon for years. In a separate November 2023 Entertainment Tonight interview, he remembered weighing the original NCIS role while trying to spend more time at home.
“I was reading other things and I was also trying to stay home — young family and I wanted to try and be home more.” Harmon made that comment while recalling his first encounter with the script, not announcing a new career decision.
The current clip returns to another part of that history: success did not arrive fully formed. Harmon remembers the struggle before the familiar franchise, and he wants ORIGINS to have room to develop, too.
For families considering the prequel, affection for its star should not replace a content check. Movieguide®’s review of the first two episodes commended the story’s concern for truth and justice but flagged crude language, violence, drug material, occult imagery and a bedroom scene.
Those findings concern the reviewed premiere episodes, not an advance verdict on Season 3. Parents can appreciate Harmon’s care for the people making the show while still considering what their own household should watch.
CBS lists NCIS: ORIGINS for Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with Paramount+ access depending on the subscription plan. Harmon’s contribution, meanwhile, comes with a straightforward aim: support the cast and help the story grow.
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