‘NCIS: Origins’ Boss Unpacks Gibbs’ Present-Day Mission, His & Lala’s Not So Slow Burn & More

Over its first two seasons, NCIS: Origins proved it’s must-see TV. With its ’90s timeline, it’s showing a new version of Mark Harmon‘s Gibbs, played by Austin Stowell, and a part of his life we never knew about in his complicated relationship, on and off the clock, with Lala (Mariel Molino). When the third season begins, with Harmon now onscreen in every episode for a compelling story with his Gibbs leaving his peaceful life in Alaska behind in 2026 — and for very good reason! — it takes it to a new level. It’s one of the best shows on broadcast television right now, almost quietly consistent (fitting for a show about Gibbs) in the way it makes us care about the characters (more than just Gibbs) and their stories (not just of her).

The premiere kicks off an arc connecting the two timelines, with Harmon’s Gibbs shot and Randy’s (Caleb Foote) fate after his kidnapping revealed, and shows what happened after ’90s Gibbs and Lala kissed. Oh, and the show has a new set of amazing opening credits. TV Insider spoke with showrunner David J. North about all that and more. Warning: Spoilers for the NCIS: Origins Season 3 premiere ahead!

In Alaska in 2026, two people come to Gibbs’ cabin in the woods and shoot him, then check for a pulse. “One down, one to go,” one of them says before leaving them there. But of course, Gibbs isn’t dead. Rather, he used a Marine breathing technique that slowed his heart rate and made his pulse impossible to find — ’90s Gibbs shows the others the same thing near the end of the episode, after Randy saved his own life with it — and once it’s safe to do so, he stitches himself up and heads out, with his sniper rifle and dog, to “get to work.”

In the ’90s, Gibbs and Lala’s hookup is interrupted by the case, and it all ties back to Randy, whose computer, they discover after saving him from being burned alive, was taken. But even after being tortured, Randy is still Randy and he delights in showing the guy who thought he killed him he was still alive. As for that computer, the victim that opens the episode (and pulls Gibbs and Lala away from each other) was the driver for the disgraced former regional director Barrett (Toby Huss). The victim had taken the computer to sell to the Russians, and Barrett killed him for the computer for a payday. Fortunately, they get the computer back before the Russians get their hands on it, and Barrett is arrested. But, as Gibbs says in voiceover, “We celebrated that night because we saved Randy. We thought it was all over. But this was the case that started it all. Saving Randy came at a price. And what I didn’t know then is 34 years later, I’d be paying mine.”

As for Gibbs and Lala’s relationship, he opens up the letter she’d left when she’d been planning to leave. “She told me she trusts me with her life but could never give me her heart,” he says in voiceover. Lala reminds him, “I was here the whole time, feeling what I thought you were feeling, too, and then you ran off and got married. You broke my heart.” He apologizes and assures her he wants her. “You’re not the next one,” he promises. “You’re the one.” (Swoon! And one of the most romantic moments of the franchise?) To prove it, he’ll wait as long as it takes. “Without getting married again?” she checks. “Well, that’s kind of a big ask,” he says, a great nod to his future ex-wives.

Below, showrunner David J. North breaks down the premiere and teases what’s next for Gibbs in the present, Gibbs and Lala in the ’90s, and much more.

Let’s start in Alaska 2026. The “one down, one to go” — what can you say about that other one and who it’s referring to? Because Gibbs in his voiceover says he “knew someone close to [him] was in trouble,” but does he know specifically who it is?

David J. North: No, he doesn’t know at that point. So that’s the first part of this mission for him is figuring out who it is so that he can save them. So it’s really two things he’s doing as he goes down to the lower 48. He leaves Alaska for the first time in almost six years, five years, and he’s trying to figure out who it was that attacked him and who that target is so that he can save them. And really, Mark and I, when we did his last episode of the mothership NCIS, we were both so comfortable with how we left him at peace in Alaska. So when I started discussing with Mark coming back and being a series regular, that was a big thing is it’d have to be a huge deal to get him out of Alaska. Just being shot wouldn’t be enough to get Gibbs to leave. He’s surprisingly not as vengeful as I think most people think, but protecting someone else would make him leave.

There was also his, “so Lala’s story didn’t die with me.” And it sounds like it could be a hint that she dies. I know you won’t address that, but can you say if that’s because it’s a story that only he can tell and no one else knows these details?

For Gibbs, I think he believes — there’s going to be a lot that happens with Lala. A lot of trouble that that character will find has gotten herself in. I won’t go into any details, but yes, he’s the only one at this point that could put pen to paper and make sure everyone knows who Lala was and what she went through.

His “just when I thought I was out,” is that a nod to Gibbs once being the one with the movie references back when NCIS first began?

[Laughs] It’s so funny that you said that because when I wrote that, I said to Daniel Egbert, who I wrote the script with, I said, “This isn’t really Gibbs’ voice, but I love the line.” And I said, “And honestly, it does track back to Gibbs’ voice in Navy NCIS.” And he said, “What’s that?” And I said, “That’s a whole other show.” That was the original title of the show. But yeah, I really just love that line. And earlier on in the episode, Vera [Diany Rodriguez] does her impression from The Godfather, and so it really seemed to make a lot of sense. And boy, did Mark deliver it when he cocks that shotgun, too.

So looking at the 2026 timeline, we know that he’s going to see Woody (Bobby Moynihan), presumably to run that fingerprint, which I like the connection back to how Franks (Kyle Schmid) got the fingerprint. And then the logline for Episode 3 teases that he reunites with a familiar face from the past. What can you say about that person and does his time with Woody directly lead to that or does something else?

His time with Woody does directly lead to that. Mark’s storyline in 2026, every episode is really feeding into the next in a very linear, emotional, but simple story. And I will say about Episode 3 that there is not an NCIS fan alive that is going to want to miss this.

So that sounds like it’s someone from the mothership.

There is not an NCIS fan alive that is going to want to miss this.

And then at some point he’ll be stepping back into the NCIS offices. What can you say about what brings him there and just how he feels in general about being back there? Because it feels like he never expected to step back into that place at this point in his life, right?

Yeah. I don’t want to talk much about the character or what’s on screen with that. I want people to experience it. I will say for me that this franchise has been so meaningful and such a big part of my life and have written so many episodes and been on this journey with Mark that seeing him there and being there with him after so many years was really moving and emotional. And as far as what it meant to Mark, I’ll let him speak to that. And as far as what it meant to the character, I’d rather people watch it.

But who he was when he leaves Alaska at the end of the premiere, he never expected to go back there, right? He kind of had left that behind, would you say at this point?

Yes, 100%, yes.

Shifting gears to the ’90s. Gibbs and Lala. First of all, talk about having their hookup interrupted by Franks on the answering machine because that was gold.

[Laughs] Thank you. Yeah, when we thought of that, it felt like, oh, this is definitely the way to go. These two seem to not be able to catch a break. This magnetic pull that they have between them, it’s always things pulling them apart. And for me, I thought that was so much fun to have Franks calling in the middle of it.

I like that Lala’s doing the small thing and taking a step back, not ignoring everything that’s already happened because of the one romantic moment, but this kind of puts them back into a slow burn of sorts, it feels like. So what does that mean for the pull between them this season, what we’ll see there as they’re adjusting to slipping back into what they used to be while knowing what they could be?

Burn will definitely be less slow. The burn is going to get quicker. So we’re really not messing around this season. We went into it — Mark calls it the season of “grip it and rip it,” which is old golfer John Daly saying. But every time I’ve come to a fork in the road, I’m taking the path that you don’t normally see on procedurals. I’m jumping to it and saying, “Screw it, let’s do it.” And so the fans that love that, I know the shipping name is Domingibbs. The Domingibbs fans are not going to be disappointed this year.

So are we going to see Gibbs actively pursuing her and proving that she can trust him?

Well, I think he learned, I know that he learned, and at the end of Season 2, that this is who he wants, this is who he wants to be with, and Gibbs is not a character that doesn’t go for what he wants.

Yeah, that “you’re the one” line. I mean, that’s big.

Yes, he’s going for it.

Gibbs saying he’ll wait as long as it takes and her asking without getting married again and him saying this kind of big ask, that was a great nod to the future.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I thought that was a lot of fun and I hope the fans will like that. His heart’s with her at this moment. Of course, life, as we know, gets in the way of things, but his heart’s with her.

So kind of leads to my next question, because it does make me worry that they’ll have to wait until the present, and there’s that “final chapter still being written” line from the voiceover as well. So how much should we be possibly reading into that and how much was it also just a fun nod that you could put in there?

You should be reading in a lot of it. There’s not too many fun nods. A lot’s about to happen this season. Yeah, it’s nonstop. What I wanted to do was, it’s a little bit in the first episode, too, I hope, where it’s just sort of relentless where the story’s just pushing forward very quickly and you got to just keep up. And my goal was, all of our goal here was to make an entire season like that. And so far, I think we’ve done a really great job.

Randy, despite what happened to him, maintained his bubbly, happy personality, which I did like, but at the same time, he went through a lot. So, is that just a facade that we’ll see slip or is it just Randy being Randy?

It’s just who Randy is. He at one point in, I think Season 1, was thinking, “I don’t know if this is for me, it’s so dangerous,” all that. But really his character arc for me in that was realizing that being an agent out in the field, taking these risks isn’t just what he does, it’s who he is. So even after this just happened, he’s went through this horrible experience and Junie’s [Emily Tremaine Fernandez] there by his side and to welcome him home, this is who he is. So there’s some residual effects, but he bounces back pretty quick from it.

I love the way he enters the interrogation room.

[Laughs] Yeah, thank you. The jazz hands or moonwalk. He’s just amazing.

What are we going to see from him? What are we seeing from his recovery or is it more just digging into the mystery of things when it comes to that?

We have some awesome, awesome stuff for Caleb this year and for Randy. And obviously he brings a lot of the humor to the show and the heart. Everything with him is so much heart, but that will continue and there’s going to be a lot of fun moments for him. And with Gibbs and Lala, of course. No one’s a bigger Gibbs Lala cheerleader than Randy, so we’ll be seeing that.

Especially because we see the importance of both those friendships.

Yeah, he adores both of them and of course them, and I think Randy specifically — Randy and Mary Jo [Tyla Abercrumbie] really see those two and say, “OK guys, come on, you’re both adults, you’re feeling it, go for it,” which is fun.

What can you say about the mystery with the files and how we’re going to be seeing that going forward?

I don’t really want to say too much about any of that because it’s so feeding into what we’re doing, but I think everybody just stay tuned and it’s jam-packed with the twists and turns.

Is it running each episode alongside cases of the week or are there going to be episodes that don’t necessarily touch on it?

Mark has his storyline that goes through all 10 episodes and the serialized storyline in ‘93 that we’re doing, which is sort of like the Sandman story from Season 1 or Abe Pruitt and his compound of misfits in Season 2, that storyline is directly tying into what older Gibbs is doing this year.

Thank you for giving Mary Jo that moment with Barrett. It was great.

Yeah, it was great. She was amazing and I wasn’t down there when she shot that, but I started getting a bunch of texts and even the crew was like, “Hell yeah.” Yeah, she really gave it to him.

When did you know that you would have Barrett be arrested and that you would have him be a bad guy?

The honest answer is I think a few days or a week maybe before we started writing it. Yeah, I didn’t know who the bad guy was for a long time on this one, but once we realized it was him, we thought it really fit.

Tom Morrow came up again because Wheeler (Patrick Fischler) was dealing with the phone calls. Are we going to be meeting him?

Eventually. Eventually, we will meet Tom Morrow, yes. I won’t say when.

The opening credits are amazing.

Oh, thank you.

I love that. Did you know you wanted to have those as soon as you knew Mark was going to be back?

Yeah. Listen, you don’t have Mark Harmon as a series regular and not feature him in the main titles. At my heart, I’m a writer, but I’m also a producer and a businessman, too, and that’s sort of a no-brainer. And so we sort of wanted to recreate it in that way and also just make it a little bit more fun to match the tone of what we’re doing this year. Our show, I’m so proud of what we’ve made for two seasons, endlessly proud of the performances and the writing, and it’s always been so funny. And this year, it’s funny again, but we’re leaning a lot more into the fun as well, the fun and the twists and turns with the cases.

What can you say about crossovers?

Well, there’s different kinds of crossovers, right? So obviously we did one, a more unconventional because we used time last year to do it. This year, I have a 2026 storyline and let’s just say Mark isn’t going to be running around by himself.

Interesting. Will we find out what happens to Lala and Randy and why they were not mentioned in the present this season or in the series in general, or might you leave some things up in the air?

We’ll find out much more about Lala, but I also might be leaving some things up in the air.

Will we see Eric Balfour again?

He’s phenomenal. And yes, we will be seeing [him again]. Vlad will be a big part of this season in Blockbuster as well, which I think is so much fun. … It was a big process. ’90s and nostalgia, and I think about my childhood and really thought, oh, it’d be so cool to have Blockbuster and be able to actually use Blockbuster. And so we started, of course, that you can’t just write Blockbuster and actually make it happen. So there were a lot of discussions with Blockbuster, which is still very much an entity, and discussing with the people that run the brand, and they were really super cool and talking with them. And we built our own Blockbuster here on the lot. We had an exterior back there, and then we built an amazing, amazing set. And so it’s very exciting. Denise [Hudson] and her team, set design, just really absolutely went above and beyond. And so you know you’ve done something when you have a Hollywood crew wandering under the set, just looking around almost in awe. It’s pretty cool.

How much are we going to see Vera working with the team? Because the season kicks off with her working with them directly on this case.

Yes, we’re going to see a lot of that. Vera is such an integral part of what we’re doing, and Diany, who plays Vera, is just a remarkable actress in her performances. And so there’ll be a lot of Vera this season, and she, to me, is part of that team, really. She has her own team, but she’s who they go to when they need that help.

NCIS: Origins, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS