Last week, Tom Cruise visited the set of NCIS: Origins, which just began its second season on the 2025 TV schedule. It’s unclear what specifically drew Cruise to the ‘90s-set prequel as they were working, though the actor does have a longstanding relationship with Paramount, which owns CBS. Whatever the reason, his visit was obviously quite the surprise for the Origins cast and crew, including Mariel Molino, who opened up about her shock to CinemaBlend.
Unfortunately for Molino, who plays NIS Special Agent Lala Dominguez, she wasn’t actually around when Cruise visited thanks to some poorly-timed rest. As she told me during my interview with her earlier today:
Oh my gosh. You wanna know something that’s so sad? I had wrapped up my filming for the day, but I always hang out in the trailer and study my lines there. So I went back to the trailer and I was so exhausted. So I took a nap. And in that nap, it was like a 40 minute nap, Tom Cruise [visited]. So I missed it. No one told me about it. It was so sad. And I went back to set too. Just when he had left, I was like, ‘Hey guys, what’s up?’ And they’re like, ‘Tom Cruise was there.’ I’m like, ‘There’s no way.’ They go, ‘No, he was here.’ I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ That’s crazy.
It’s crazy indeed, and I feel so bad for Mariel Molino missing out on that moment. On any other day, there wouldn’t been any issue with her sneaking in that nap, but this time it resulted in her not being able to meet one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Hopefully there will be another opportunity in Molino’s future where she can cross paths with Tom Cruise. Maybe she’ll even get to work with him someday!
Even though the NCIS: Origins talent weren’t expecting Cruise to stop by, it turns out he indirectly influenced an aspect of the CBS show. David J. North shared on Instagram that he and fellow showrunner Gina Luctia Monreal took inspiration of the bar from Top Gun when they were designing Daly’s, the bar where the Origins characters go to relax. The prequel series is also set in the time period when Cruise was impressing in movies like Days of Thunder and A Few Good Men.
It’s probably safe to say we won’t ever see Tom Cruise guest starring on an episode of NCIS: Origins and de-aged to make him look like he did right before The Firm came out. However, you can watch Lala, Leroy Jethro Gibbs and the rest of the NIS teams solving crimes around Camp Pendleton Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, with episodes becoming available to stream afterwards with a Paramount+ subscription.