‘NCIS: Origins’ Bosses Reveal Mark Harmon’s Question After Key Gibbs Voiceover

Is someone going to be joining Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in Alaska on NCIS: Origins?! That’s a valid question after a recent episode-ending voiceover on the prequel — and if you had it, you’re not alone.

In Episode 7, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” which aired on December 2, Gibbs’ voiceover about Wheeler (Patrick Fischler), dealing with the fallout of his wife leaving him after learning he was still seeing Oakley (DaJuan Johnson), laid the foundation for someone — besides the dog revealed in the crossover — to join him.

“I spent a lot of my time alone. Alone in my kitchen, eating dinner. Alone in my basement, building a boat. [When] you spend a lot of your time alone, you get used to it. If you’re not careful, it starts to become a habit. Things are simpler when you’re alone. You got nothing to lose. So you push people away until they leave. Or you go someplace no one can follow, like the middle of Alaska,” Gibbs said. “I learned to like being alone, or maybe that’s just the thing I tell myself until someone shows up to share a steak by the fire.”

When TV Insider spoke with executive producers Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North about the fall finale, we had to ask: Could that be hinting at someone joining Gibbs in Alaska at some point onscreen?

“Could be,” North allowed. Monreal echoed that (and wasn’t surprised we caught that). North then added, “A little behind the scenes: When I was in the sound studio with Mark while he was recording that voiceover that Gina wrote, Mark asked me the same thing.”

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And when we spoke with Austin Stowell, who plays Gibbs in the ’90s on the prequel, we had to ask him who his version would want to join him in Alaska, looking ahead 30 years. “Other than Randy [Caleb Foote]?” was his immediate response. Gibbs and Randy have become a fun buddy cop duo, which both actors are enjoying.

“He would have everybody down the line: Mary Jo [Tyla Abercrumbie], Franks [Kyle Schmid], Lala [Mariel Molino], of course, Randy, his dad, his mom, [his late wife and daughter] Shannon and Kelly, of course,” Stowell then answered seriously. “Gibbs gives all of himself to the people that he chooses to align with. Once he gives his allegiance, he’s there all the way.”

He had his own question at the table read after getting to that voiceover. “I went to David and Gina and go, ‘You guys mean the dog?'” he told us.

For him, that voiceover is so fitting for the character of Gibbs. “But it’s so sad,” he added. “It’s so tragic as our leading guy, that where Mark’s version of Gibbs ends up, and that monologue is so poignant because he says it’s easier, but at the end of the day, he is alone. And that it would be nice if somebody — the fact that he even thinks about that means that deep down he would like someone there. And because I don’t know about the future of — I know about the future of Diane [Kathleen Kenny, playing Gibbs’ second wife], I don’t know about the future of Lala. I don’t know what that is. I really don’t. I’m not saying this with any kind of coy smile. I know that she grows on Gibbs by the day and his admiration for her is certainly not going anywhere.”

Thanks to NCIS, we know that Franks survives (until he’s killed off on the mothership, where he’s played by Muse Watson), as does Vera (Diany Rodriguez, Roma Maffia). The crossover also featured Bobby Moynihan and Ely Henry playing older versions of their Origins characters, Woody and Phil, on NCIS. But we don’t know what the future holds for Lala or Randy. (Caleb Foote has ideas.)

Austin Stowell points out that just because we haven’t heard about these characters doesn’t mean they’ve died; people don’t always talk about old coworkers.

“That’s the beauty of life is that we get to live many lifetimes within it,” he said. “We’re certainly seeing that in all these characters right now. Franks, we’re filling in lots of his backstory — what it means to be a sibling, to have somebody in your life that you know you’ve made mistakes, but you feel like you’ve corrected them, and maybe they’re not ready to, maybe they just don’t feel the same way. It’s a wonderful thing about this show that I find such pleasure being a part of it, and it is an approachable way to learn about life, in that it is escapism, that very few of us are special agents. So it does feel like a bit of a fantasy, but at the end of the day, all of these characters are going through things that all of us experience every day, and so you can find parallels to your life. I think that’s the wonderful thing about storytelling and about what I do, it’s what turned me on about acting to begin with, that it’s this potential to allow someone else to heal from their wounds.”

What were your initial thoughts about that voiceover from Gibbs? Who would you like to see join him in Alaska? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS: Origins, Midseason Return, Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 9/8c, CBS