Back in September, as NCIS: Origins was preparing to return to the screen with its second season, showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal teased that they would introduce three younger versions of the franchise characters that fans are going to be buzzing about.
They already brought young Ducky back to us in NCIS: Origins season 2 episode 3, in a beautiful tribute that left us wanting more. But for two months, fans could only guess who the other two would be. Now the showrunners are looking to cast the role of a young future team leader who will go on to form a close friendship with Gibbs.
NCIS: Origins is looking for its young version of a beloved spinoff character
Although he isn’t the young character many expected, NCIS: Origins officially announced they're casting for the role of young Dwayne Pride, the team leader from the NCIS: New Orleans spinoff. They're looking for the perfect person to play the man who will become one of Gibbs's closest friends in a later episode in season 2.
Pride's origin story, according to TV Insider, is that of a former Sheriff's Deputy who joins NIS's Panama office as a Probationary Special Agent. Pride will be sent to work an undercover case with Franks's team. He and Gibbs have some past differences to settle before they can work together.
NCIS: Origins promises to show us how the bond between Gibbs and Pride came to be
Dwayne Pride's first appearance on the original NCIS was back in 2014, in the season 11 backdoor pilot episode, "Crescent City: Part 1". In that episode, Gibbs greeted him like a brother, but their relationship wasn't always smooth. We know that Gibbs and Pride first met 30 years before, in 1984, while they were still Marines.
Pride joined NIS a couple of years before Gibbs, after being quite successful as a Deputy for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Years later, he and Gibbs became members of the "Fed Five", alongside Mike Franks, Dan McClane, and Felix Betts. McClane was Pride's mentor, just as Franks is Gibbs's.
Meeting a young Agent Pride on NCIS: Origins is the perfect chance to see how the famously reserved Gibbs came to tell his team he’d trust Pride with his life.
The showrunners still have one more surprise character in store for us this season. As for young Pride, they have yet to announce who will fill his shoes — and do justice to the man he ultimately becomes.
NCIS: Origins arrives every Tuesday on CBS at 9/8c and is available to stream on Paramount+.
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