The latest update on NCIS: Origins season 2 confirms a key change for Gibbs. The prequel to the long-running NCIS franchise debuted in October 2024, focusing on a younger version of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell) as he assembles a ragtag team in the 1990s. NCIS: Origins season 2 was renewed in February.

With an NCIS: Origins cast that includes Kyle Schmid, Mariel Molino, Tyla Abercrumbie, Diany Rodriguez, and Caleb Foote, with the narration of Mark Harmon, the prequel intentionally doesn’t perfectly align with Harmon’s version of Gibbs that viewers know from his decades on the original NCIS series. According to co-showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal, it’s an intentional choice.

In an interview with TVLine, North opened up about how Gibbs will evolve in NCIS: Origins season 2. In the quote below, the co-showrunner and executive producer specifically talks about how Gibbs will learn to trust his gut more often and highlights how the lead character struggled with that issue in the first installment:

“We’re inching our way there, definitely, in a way that we think is honest for the character. I mean, just take the fact that in Season 1, we know Gibbs’ gut was churning a little bit about Bugs and thinking, ‘Maybe there’s more to this story?’” But Gibbs didn’t go down that path, he didn’t gnaw at Franks and say, ‘Hey, my gut…’ — and he learned in the end he was right. Those are all stepping stones toward becoming the Gibbs that we met in 2003.”

More to come…