‘NCIS’ & ‘Origins’ Crossover: Gibbs’ Scene Partner, [Spoiler]’s Return & More Explained

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 5 “Funny How Time Slips Away” and NCIS Season 23 Episode 5 “Now and Then.”]

NCIS and NCIS: Origins cross over on Tuesday, November 11, for a poignant, seamless two hours that brings back not only Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Roma Maffia as Vera, but another character from the mothership. The episodes also see the team debate what to put in a time capsule, and offers an update on just how Gibbs is doing in the Alaskan wilderness.

The case is what connects the two timelines: The NIS team, including Gibbs (Austin Stowell), investigates a murder in a small town, only to learn the victim was actually a bully, responsible for terrorizing everyone, and therefore, more than one person had motive. The sheriff confesses, but as it’s revealed, he does so to cover for the woman he loves, who is carrying his child, even though she’s married to someone else.

But there’s a twist in the investigation as well, as the present-day team discovers that the murder victim hadn’t beaten up a beloved member of the town like everyone thought (he died from his injuries) but rather his grandson had done it. After weaseling her way into the investigation — she helps the sheriff, once he escapes prison, remain on the run in the present day — Vera joins the team and helps bring about justice. (Origins‘ Bobby Moynihan and Ely Henry appear in the present day as older versions of Woody and Phil, and their bickering? Priceless.)

Below, Origins executive producers David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal and star Kyle Schmid and NCIS star Gary Cole and guest star Roma Maffia take us inside the poignant, powerful crossover.

Mark Harmon’s Onscreen Return as Gibbs — and His Scene Partner

The crossover opens with Mark Harmon’s Gibbs in Alaska, with a report coming over the radio of an evacuation order in effect.

“We did not know that he would really fix that radio,” Monreal reveals to TV Insider. Adds North, “I got there when we’re shooting and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ And they’re like, ‘He’s soldering the radio.’ And I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t it just be fake?’ He wanted to do it for real. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, very Mark.'”

The EPs knew that this crossover would be a big deal, and when better to catch up with Harmon’s Gibbs, given how long it had been since we had seen him onscreen for a significant period of time (he exited NCIS in Season 19, four years ago, briefly appeared in the Origins pilot, and has only provided voiceover since). But originally, the plan had been very different

“We were going to have clips from the original show of Gibbs through the years, and we actually started to put that together and we just felt like it didn’t have the same emotional impact we were looking for,” explains Monreal. “So, we were so grateful when we went to Mark and he said yes, that he would do this. It’s just such a huge moment for our show and the character, the legend of Gibbs.”

But then came the real “odyssey,” as North puts it: “finding the perfect blue-eyed dog.”

Yes, Gibbs now has a dog with him — that’s what the EPs meant by he’s no longer alone — one that he found out in the middle of nowhere with a storm approaching. It’s a nice connection to NIS’ canine member, Gary Callahan, as this Gibbs reminisces about those days. But that really came about because Harmon and North are, as the EP says, “dog obsessed.”

North continues, “Gina and I talked and we thought it’d be a cool thing and we knew Mark would enjoy it, and sort of the notion of where did that dog come from and out in the middle of nowhere and we liked the idea of Gibbs not being alone as we continue to learn more about his story.”

Monreal points out that it’s “very Gibbs” to take in the dog and split his dinner with him.

Welcome back to the NCIS franchise, Muse Watson!

The NIS team knows the sheriff is innocent, and Mike Franks visits him in prison over the years to try to appeal to him … until the day he died. As a result, Franks transitions from Kyle Schmid’s to Muse Watson‘s. Yes, Watson returns in the role he originated on the mothership.

“We just thought that was an opportunity at the end to — this whole thing has been about time — actually see our Franks, Kyle Schmid, turn into Muse,” says North. “Muse is just an incredible guy, and we reached out to him and he said, ‘I’m here. I want to do anything to support you guys.’ He loves the show. He’s so proud of Kyle’s version of Franks, and he really, in a few days’ time, got on a flight. He came out here with his daughter, spent a couple days with us, and it was really awesome. I hadn’t seen him in many, many years, so it was really great to see him and spend that time with him.”

Schmid was thrilled to finally meet Watson in person. “I’m over the moon about [him appearing], to meet the man who originated the character that you are currently playing in your life and to fill those shoes,” he says. “We had developed a friendship before the show started. He gave me a lot of advice, and it was great to just be able to sit and listen to his stories and learn and absorb and get the inflection in his voice because Muse has a very unique speech pattern.”

He continues, “And then to finally meet Muse and have him come on the show, and he brought his daughter, who’s absolutely lovely, and we just spent an entire morning together walking around Paramount and getting breakfast. He’s so proud of what we’ve done with Mike Franks, and he’s so proud of the show. And he’s just so overwhelmed with gratitude and joy with what we’ve done with a franchise that is 20-some odd years old and been able to give it new life… That makes him just so proud. Muse and I went from being really good friends over the phone to incredibly good friends in person, and that meant so much to me.”

Learning Rule #11

Franks is the one to teach Gibbs rule #11: When a job’s done, walk away. (We did expect rule #9 — don’t go anywhere without a knife — to come up when Mariel Molino‘s Lala returned Gibbs’ knife to him.) That comes when despite the team pushing on the sheriff, he refuses to admit he’s given a false confession in the ’90s. Monreal and North didn’t consider any other rules for Gibbs to learn at this point.

“The idea of walking away when the job is done, that is just so core to who Gibbs is,” Monreal tells us. “I think because we were playing with time here where we have this case that is solved over three decades, the idea of having to walk away in order to live your life throughout those next 30 years seemed just really appropriate.”

Now that he’s learned that rule, “he’s growing,” North says. “We’re going to see him take on some more leadership where he’ll be put in positions where he has no choice but to lead — it’s sink or swim — and continue to see more and more glimpses of the Gibbs that we’ve known for so many years.”

About Gibbs’ Boat…

This crossover is absolutely terrific with transitions, from Harmon’s Gibbs to Stowell’s, as well as Schmid’s Franks to Watson’s. North credits CBS VFX with that.

And it’s that first transition that reveals that young Gibbs is building a boat, which fans of the mothership were very used to seeing in his basement over the years. “There are a lot of questions surrounding what the name on that boat is, and I think there are some conflicting things in canon, so just rest assured that we are aware of canon and we will stick to canon,” Monreal promises. “We don’t want to ruin the surprise of what the name is on that boat yet.”

Vera vs. McGee … and a Catch-up About Gibbs

Roma Maffia reprises her role as Vera in the present day, and she’s just as fun as she was in her first episode, back in Season 11. Stepping back into her shoes was “so easy,” Maffia says. “They write her so beautifully that it’s [just about] speaking the words.”

She agrees that part of the reason she helped the sheriff while he was on the run after escaping prison was that, in addition to believing he was innocent all those years ago, she wanted in on the case. As much as she wanted to make it to retirement in that first episode, dreading being partnered with Tony (Michael Weatherly) in the field as she counted down the days, she’s now bored. “She thought that very early on, as soon as her doorbell rung,” Maffia confirms.

What hasn’t changed: her hatred of McGee (Sean Murray), who was the reason she went into the field last time because he lost his credentials and ultimately sprained her ankle. She lets him know it, too, when he and Parker (Gary Cole) show up at her house, then across an interrogation room table.

“They can’t get away from the little nitpicking,” Maffia laughs. “He does get under her skin, even though she does try to be the better person some of the times.”

By the end of the episode, she is warming up to him, “but I also think there is a little bit of fun in trying to torture him all the time because he’s so easy to torture,” Maffia says.

Still, if she hadn’t let that go, she wouldn’t have told McGee that Gibbs is proud of him. “He talks about you,” Vera said when she finds the senior field agent watching the interrogation room tapes from the ’90s. “He’s proud of you. he told me that you are a better agent at your age than he ever was.”

For Maffia, that “was very sweet and unexpected and it brought back Gibbs in a real way that was, I think, very present for both of us, and speaking of how time passes and we age and how he got to see Gibbs in a different way, which was really lovely. I thought it gave room for some forgiveness and some understanding.”

Vera is vague about how she’s in touch with Gibbs. When McGee asks if he calls her, she says, “Not exactly, but it’s not important how I talk to him.” Maffia likes that they did that. She thinks that Vera “was in close contact” with Gibbs throughout the investigation, keeping him apprised, and that’s how McGee came up.

Will Mark Harmon return on-screen again?

Now that Harmon has appeared onscreen again as Gibbs, what are the chances of him doing so again? Harmon told us that it’s about what’s best for the show, and the Origins EPs aren’t ruling anything out.

“Anything is possible,” North says, echoing his comments in the past. “I can say I am interested in what Gibbs — both Gibbs stories, of course, seeing how this unfolds in Origins with our younger Gibbs, but I’m very interested in older Gibbs story, too.”

How Ducky played a role in the crossover

This case comes up as, on NCIS, the team debates what to put in a time capsule for the Navy’s 250th anniversary that best represents what NCIS is. In the end, Palmer (Brian Dietzen) comes up with the perfect item: Ducky’s book, The Stories We Leave Behind, about their cases and with photos of the past and present teams. It showcases what they mean to each other, that they’re a family.

“When television lasts this long, life goes on,” says Gary Cole. “Life happens. It’s rare moments in television when somebody actually passes away, and you have to represent it to honor that person but also the character. We found ourselves doing that when David McCallum passed away [with the tribute episode and] you’re reflecting on something that’s real. It’s a real person, and that’s pretty rare to be able to do. Things like that will always stick with me when I watch a television show and something likes happens that has that much impact when the audience is that bonded to characters that have lasted that long. It just doesn’t happen that much, and so you have to kind of honor that and savor it.”

What did you think of the crossover? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS

NCIS: Origins, Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS