CBS has renewed NCIS: ORIGINS for a third season, and the network has now locked in a return date: Oct. 6, 2026, when the prequel rejoins NCIS and NCIS: NEW YORK for a Tuesday-night lineup at 10 p.m. ET.
The bigger news, though, is a significant change behind the camera. Co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal is departing after two seasons.
“It’s been the biggest honor of my career to write NCIS: ORIGINS alongside my incredible co-showrunner and friend David North,” Monreal said in a statement, thanking “the incomparable Mark Harmon, Sean Harmon, our writers, and the best cast and crew in the business.”
Movieguide® has followed this story since it first reported Monreal’s departure in January, and the show has earned real caution from Movieguide® families before. Monreal herself once described the prequel’s tone this way: “The tone itself is a bit grittier, it’s a bit darker, which we love, because we feel like we’re pushing the envelope as far as what the franchise does, but at the same time, we’re keeping the heart of it. What makes NCIS so beloved is this found family.”
Movieguide®’s own review was more direct about the content. It warned that the two-part premiere “is marred by some crude foul language, references to drug abuse and possible occultism, and a bedroom scene between the team leader and his wife,” concluding plainly that “MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.”
Related: NCIS: ORIGINS 1.1 and 1.2 “Enter Sandman – Part 1 and Part 2”
Showrunner and executive producer David J. North, who co-created NCIS: ORIGINS with Monreal and now runs the show solo, made clear the split is amicable. Long before she was his writing partner, he said, Monreal “was, and remains, one of my closest friends.” Even without her in the room daily, North added, “the characters and stories she helped create will live on.”
CBS approved the renewal on January 22, one of 16 shows already locked in for next season, a vote of confidence for a series built around a much younger, rawer version of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Austin Stowell returns in that lead role, joined by Mariel Molino as Cecilia “Lala” Dominguez, Kyle Schmid as Mike Franks, Tyla Abercrumbie as Mary Jo Hayes, Diany Rodriguez as Vera Strickland, and Caleb Foote as Bernard “Randy” Randolf.
Season 3 also brings a bigger role for Mark Harmon, who played the older Gibbs across 19 seasons of the flagship show. Harmon appears in every episode this season, woven into a present-day mystery tied to his character’s 1990s Camp Pendleton days that unfolds across the whole run. He executive produces the prequel alongside his son, Sean Harmon, lending the spinoff a credibility CBS has clearly leaned on.
Fans took the renewal news well, and NCIS: ORIGINS’ makeup designer marked the moment with a post that read, in part, “LET’S GO. NCIS: Origins officially renewed for Season 3.”
With an air date locked in, NCIS: ORIGINS still has a story to finish: tracing how a grieving young Gibbs became the steady hand generations of fans would come to trust. It’s a redemptive arc worth watching for, alongside the same caution Movieguide® has urged from the start.
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