‘NCIS: Origins’ Is Casting Young Version of Scott Bakula’s Pride

“Hello, my brother.” That’s how Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) greeted Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) on NCIS in the backdoor pilot for New Orleans, “Crescent City,” in 2014. But how did they develop such a close friendship? Well, we’re about to start getting the origins of just that.

NCIS: Origins is casting the role of Young Pride for an episode to air later this season, TV Insider has learned exclusively. Yes, Pride is joining other characters whose younger versions have showed up on the prequel including Gibbs (Austin Stowell), Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid and Muse Watson), Vera Strickland (Diany Rodriguez and Roma Maffia), Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (Adam Campbell and David McCallum), and Tobias Fornell (Lucas Dixon and Joe Spano). Scott Bakula played the role of Pride for seven seasons of NCIS: New Orleans, from 2014 to 2021.

Origins‘ version of Pride, a former Sheriff’s Deputy, is a newly minted Probationary Special Agent from the NIS Panama office. He has a history with Gibbs (Austin Stowell), and the two must resolve their past tension as they go undercover on a case.

“One of the special things about NCIS: Origins is being able to explore the early days of so many beloved characters from the franchise,” said co-showrunners and executive producers Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North. “We’re excited to go back in time and meet the 1990s version of New Orleans’ pride and joy, the legendary Special Agent Dwayne Pride, and learn more about his history with Gibbs.”

Skip Bolen/CBS

The aforementioned “Crescent City” delved into the Fed Five — Gibbs, Pride, Franks, Dan McClane (whose murder reunited Gibbs and Pride), and Felix Betts — and one of their past cases, the Privileged Killer. Dan, who had taught Pride everything he knew, and Franks had been the senior members of the team, and Gibbs and Pride, at the time, were both probies. That means we’ll also be keeping an eye on Pride’s dynamic with Franks in the ’90s.

In 2014, Gibbs told his team — Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), and Eleanor Bishop (Emily Wickersham) — that he had known Pride for 30 years, “trust him with my life. You can trust him, too.” (That put their first meeting in 1984.) It sounds like this Origins appearance could show at least the beginnings of how the two go from having “past tension” to just that.

That same two-parter also saw Pride claim that Gibbs stole his stopping the elevator move from him. “Stole my ass,” Gibbs protested.

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Meeting Young Pride and exploring his origins is coming after the NCIS prequel did just that, bringing Adam Campbell over as the younger Ducky (a role he played on the mothership previously) and showing how he began talking to victims.

The series is produced by CBS Studios. David J. North, Gina Lucita Monreal, Mark Harmon, and Sean Harmon serve as executive producers. Casting directors are Jason Kennedy, Krysti Baxter, and Meredith Goble.

What are you hoping to see when Young Pride shows up on NCIS: Origins? Let us know in the comments section below.

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