CBS is planning a new NCIS: Origins series to expand the franchise. However, this won't be the typical NCIS show, which should excite fans.
Many will agree NCIS hasn't been the same without Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Mark Harmon was the heart and soul of the series as the gruff but dedicated team leader, always there for his crew and going to all lengths to crack a case.
While he was feeling his age and such, it was still jarring when, while in Alaska hunting a killer, Gibbs told McGee that he was leaving the team. It seemed just a break, but that has, in fact, been the last time Harmon has been on the series, with Gary Cole taking over as new team leader Alden Parker.
NCIS has continued its success with NCIS: Hawaii and the new NCIS: Sydney spinoff. CBS has confirmed a new series, NCIS: Origins, which is already being nicknamed "Young Gibbs'' with Harmon narrating and showing Gibbs as a younger NCIS agent in the 1990s.
It looks like this show is going to have a different tone than the regular NCIS series, which will be a great move to set it apart.
Why NCIS: Origins needs to be different
As much as NCIS is great and popular with fans, it can also feel pretty routine as a procedural, with most plots wrapped up in a single episode. NCIS: Origins should be different and not just because it's set in a different time.
CBS programming manager Amy Reisenbach seems to agree. Speaking to Deadline on CBS's future plans, she gave some hints on what the show can be like.
"NCIS: Origins is really different than any of the other NCIS's; it makes me feel so old to say it's period when it's set in the 90s, kill me now, right? It's a little edgier and grittier than previous NCIS's, it's got a serialized element of it that we're really excited about. "
Resienbach compared it to how NCIS: Sydney has a distinctly Australian feel to it, from locations to a unique style. NCIS: Origins should be the same. For one thing, computer science and forensic work in the 1990s were much, much different, which means Gibbs will have to be "old school" in methods (expect him to consult a phone book rather than look an address up online).
There's also how vastly different it was from politics to pop culture. The series may also address some tough issues in what the military was like back then (especially for women) and the "retro" feel can give it a unique vibe.
It should also be a different Gibbs, who, according to the timeline, could still be married to fourth wife Stephanie Flynn. She left him because of Gibbs's obsession with serial killer Kyle Boone, which could be a plot point for this series as it's the reason behind much of Gibbs's behavior.
Indeed, this show should focus on what made Gibbs into the man he is today, from being mentored by Mike Franks to taking up a leadership role. The serialized element also sounds good, and it will be fun to see how the NCIS organization itself worked in the 1990s.
NCIS: Origins promises to be a different take on the franchise, which it can use to inject more personality and a unique vibe to make it stand out from the pack. It's also fitting that a show about NCIS's biggest character should be as unique as Gibbs is.
NCIS Season 21 premieres on Monday, Feb. 12 at 9/8c on CBS.