We’re getting an NCIS crossover this fall, only it’s one that we never thought could happen. After all, how do you manage crossovers with shows in different decades?
Like any major TV franchise, NCIS has long relied on crossover events. Indeed, the series itself began as a spinoff from JAG and since expanding, crossovers between the shows have been commonplace. The last big one was a three-way NCIS crossover across NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawaii in 2023.
Sadly, both LA and Hawaii have been canceled. The franchise is now the mothership, NCIS: Sydney, set in Australia, and NCIS: Origins, which follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) as he starts as an NCIS agent in the early 1990s. That's not counting the NCIS: Tony & Ziva series on Paramount+.
This seemed to limit the crossover potential to only NCIS and NCIS: Sydney, which is a bit challenging considering they take place on opposite ends of the planet. However, we are getting an NCIS crossover this season…just not the one fans expected.
NCIS and NCIS: Origins are crossing over
Prepping for the new fall seasons, Stowell and Wilmer Valderrama (who plays Nick Torres in NCIS) surprised fans with a video revealing that on Tuesday, Nov. 11, NCIS and NCIS: Origins will have a crossover.
Valderrama aptly describes it as “an NCIS crossover event like no other,” with Stowell adding, “the goal: to resolve a case that spans decades.”
Notably, the two shows will swap time slots with NCIS: Origins starting at 8/7c and NCIS after it. It sounds like the plotline is the 1990s team investigating the death of a Navy officer, with the mystery unsolved. Then in 2025, the regular NCIS team uncovers new evidence to reopen the case.
A big question is the possibility that could lead to some older versions of NCIS: Origins characters popping up, or if they only appear in flashbacks. It should be noted that there will be a smaller bit of continuity coming in as Adam Campbell will appear on Origins, reprising his role as the younger Ducky to cross paths with Gibbs. The date of that happening hasn't been confirmed yet.
While it seems crazy, there is a strange logic to the crossover. NCIS has regularly had the characters tackling cold cases, so one worked on by the original team would fit. It’ll also be interesting for the modern-day agents to learn what Gibbs was like as a younger investigator and the possibility of checking on a past face for answers.
So the NCIS crossovers are continuing in an unexpected way to remind fans why this franchise remains so loved!
The NCIS and Origins crossover will happen on Tuesday, Nov. 11 starting at 8/7c on CBS.
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