Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS/NCIS: Origins crossover are ahead!
NCIS and NCIS: Origins may take place in two different time periods, but that didn’t stop CBS from bringing them together in a unique way. The crossover between these two procedurals just finished airing on the 2025 TV schedule, with the connective thread being a case that began in 1992 and was revisited in 2025. One of the highlights of this crossover was Mark Harmon reprising Leroy Jethro Gibbs on Origins on camera for the first time since it began, though he’s remained a steady presence on the prequel as its narrator. CinemaBlend learned the details about Harmon’s big return, as well as where things stand with Gibbs in the present day.
How Mark Harmon Came Back For NCIS: Origins
“Funny How Time Slips Away” began with viewers checking in on Gibbs in Naktok Bay, Alaska, where he was last seen in his final NCIS episode. These days, he’s living a solitary life in his remote cabin, and this Origins episode saw him taking shelter during a snow storm with a stray dog he found. Originally Mark Harmon wasn’t going to appear on camera for the crossover, but showrunners Davis J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal told me they realized this was a prime opportunity to spotlight both the actor and character’s fondness for dogs. North explained:
We had originally were gonna be using ‘best of’ clips of Mark for the beginning of our hour, and in the end, Gina and I had talked and we just thought, boy, this would be a great time on a special two hour kind of NCIS movie like this to check in with Gibbs. So we thought, well, what would be the way to do that? Gibbs’ love for dogs is well known. Mark and I both have a big love for dogs, and he and I have collaborated using dogs on the show many times. So Gina and I came up with this idea. We called Mark and he said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s rock and roll.’ So that’s how it came together.
With the snow storm keeping these two holed up together, Gibbs decided to tell the story of when he and his NIS team investigated a murder in Serenity, California to his new canine friend. This also marked the first time that Mark Harmon has been seen speaking on camera on NCIS: Origins, as he narrated over the footage of him in the pilot. Monreal had this to say about that aspect of his latest appearance:
It was the highlight of our career to be able to see Mark, come back and say lines as Gibbs. It really meant a lot to both of us… When you see him put on the flannel and the boots, it’s very emotional.
It’s unclear whether or not that dog will stick around, because frankly, it’s hard to say when we’ll actually see Mark Harmon on NCIS: Origins again. When I asked if Harmon appearances would become an annual tradition on the series, David J. North said they didn’t want to “box ourselves in with anything,” and that they’ll continuing seeing “where the stories take us.” I think it’s safe to say Origins will spotlight the older Gibbs on camera again, just don’t necessarily put money on it happening around this time next year.
Is Gibbs Happy With His Current Life?
When Leroy Jethro Gibbs said goodbye to Timothy McGee in the NCIS Season 19 episode “Great Wide Open,” he said he’d found a kind of peace in Naktok Bay that he hadn’t felt since before Kelly and Shannon, his daughter and first wife, were killed. After watching the crossover, I was curious if Gibbs is still happy given how he’s living these days largely secluded from humanity, or if he still needs to conquer some inner demons. Gina Lucita Monreal had this to say on the subject:
Well, that’s an incredible episode you’re referencing. David wrote that farewell episode for Gibbs on the mothership, and I think that the fact that he’s writing in his journal and thinking about these older days shows that he still has some stuff to work through, and I think he’s doing that in the present.
David J. North agreed with Monreal, adding that while Gibbs still has his struggles just like any person does, that peace he found in Naktok Bay still exists. In his words:
Yeah, I think we all have demons. I think no matter how much peace we find, there’s always a struggle there. So then that’s certainly true for Gibbs and everything he’s been through, but he did find a peace still in Alaska, so I think the fans can know Gibbs is happy.
You’ll notice that I didn’t say that Gibbs is completely cut off from humanity. We know from NCIS that he at least has some awareness of the outside world, as he learned about Donald “Ducky” Mallard dying last year. However, the NCIS half of the crossover, “Now and Then,” also revealed that he’s also been in contact with someone from the good ol’ NIS days.
Gibbs Has Been Talking With Vera Strickland… Somehow
After reopening the Serenity case following Thomas Mulligan escaping from prison, the NCIS characters were led to Vera Strickland, reprised by Roma Maffia for the first time in 12 years. In the midst of helping out this team on the case she’d worked on in 1992 (her younger self is played by Diany Rodriguez on NCIS: Origins), Vera shared with McGee that she’s been communicating with Gibbs, and he told her that McGee is a far better agent than he was at that age. Here’s what Maffia said to me when I brought up how Gibbs and Vera are in contact:
Well, this isn’t the first time they’ve communicated. I think they’ve been in communication, and I think that with this particular case, maybe more so… Yeah, it’s I think they have been in communication for many years…. He does have a little string of people that he wants to keep. Touchstones. [Vera’s] not the closest touchstone, but that part of his life, his past life, I think she is one of the touchstones.
I’m glad that Gibbs thinks highly enough of Vera that he’s making the effort to talk with her out in Alaska. Only, how exactly is he doing this? It’s never explicitly stated, but when I asked David J. North to provide some insight, he answered:
Maybe time will tell more with that. I don’t know if people noticed, but there a CB radio that was sort of in pieces there on the shelf. So I think maybe Gibbs got that working at one point.
“Funny How Time Slips Away” did indeed show Gibbs repairing a CB radio in his cabin, so perhaps he and Vera are chatting it up that way rather than sending letters. If Maffia returns to NCIS someday, maybe she can share more things that Gibbs told her about. We check in with him so little that I don’t mind if another character can shed light on how he’s doing in Alaska. Rule 8: never take anything for granted.