‘NCIS: Origins’: Emily Wickersham on Gibbs’ Shocking Reveal About Lala

Hold on, did NCIS: Origins just reveal Lala’s (Mariel Molino) present-day fate?! The latest episode reunites Mark Harmon‘s Gibbs with Emily Wickersham‘s Bishop in 2026, and he opens up a bit about his former teammate (who was so much more than that). TV Insider spoke with Wickersham about that and more. (Read what she said about reuniting with Harmon here.) Warning: Spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 4 ahead!

The scenes bookending the episode bring Gibbs back to a very familiar place — his basement — and Vance left him a note on November 26, 2021: “Not sure you’ll ever be back here, but in case you are, fixed your wall for you. No charge. Leon.” That’s actually right before NCIS Season 19 Episode 8 aired (November 29, 2021), in which Kasie (Diona Reasonover) wondered WWGS (What Would Gibbs Say?) as she considered buying a gun.

Bishop joins him after Tony calls her since she’s now working off the books and begins looking into Roland Briggs, the tracker who found him. He’d been used by the CIA for years as one of its contractors, and she’s monitoring his usual haunts. She remarks that the basement is bigger without the boat, and he admits he was thinking the same thing. He then (finally) digs the bullet out of his shoulder after a drink of bourbon (from a jar that previously held bolts and nails, of course).

It’s in the final scene of the episode that Bishop asks about Lala after seeing a photo of her and Austin Stowell‘s Gibbs Harmon’s is looking at; the teen the ’90s team helped during the episode’s case took it. (“Maybe we just look good together,” Lala remarked.) Gibbs tells Bishop Lala’s name, calling her “one hell of a special agent.” But Bishop can tell she was more than just that to him and asks if he thinks she could be the other target. “No, I do not,” he says. “She died a long time ago.”

Bishop asks if she was killed in action. “No,” he tells her. “Plane crash.” (Does anyone believe him? Because we don’t, not after all the build-up.)

Sonja Flemming/CBS

After that, they head out to the tracker’s location in Baltimore. “Gear up,” Gibbs says, and Bishop smiles. “I never thought I’d hear you say that again,” she explains.

Below, Emily Wickersham unpacks that reveal from Gibbs and teases what’s ahead.

Does Bishop believe Gibbs that Lala is dead? Because I don’t.

Emily Wickersham: I’m trying to think of what I felt in the moment. I think the whole thing was very confusing to her. You don’t. You don’t believe it now, but did you?

No.

I feel like Bishop actually never knew much about Lala, because he’s so tight-lipped, and I think Bishop can also just tell immediately that there’s, and always has been able to tell, that there’s so much more there between the two of them.

How much is Bishop picking up on what Lala means or meant to Gibbs? She’s able to tell that, right, because as she points out, the photos that he has in that container, there are only certain people in there.

Yeah. I think part of Bishop’s job is to read people. I think it’s a massive part of what she does in her everyday life. And because they have such a rapport together, I think she’s able to know immediately that there’s a mountain of stuff about Lala that she doesn’t know about.

How was it to film back on the set of Gibbs’s basement?

It was so weird. When I first tested for NCIS, that’s where I tested in that basement. And so it was very strange to not have been there for so many years and to step back onto that specific set. It was weird, but it also felt so, so familiar to me.

Also, because that’s the last place that Gibbs and Bishop were face-to-face (pictured below).

Yeah. Yeah, that’s right.

So did that bring up memories for you from filming that last scene there?

Of course, of course. I mean, I think for me and Mark, I have so many fun, fond memories of working with him and being able to step back into the literal spot where we filmed so many of these fun scenes together and had so many great moments, it was great. It was a great feeling.

Cliff Lipson/CBS

I have to say, I love the exchange about the basement being bigger without a boat. Did the set feel different also without having the boat there?

It did. I mean, they moved the set from Santa Clarita to Paramount, which also I was like, “Whoa, this is weird, too.” But yeah, no, it felt very different without the boat because all those years, the boat was there.

What’s next for Gibbs and Bishop now that they have a hit on the tracker? What can you say about what they’re doing next?

I don’t know if I can say much, but I feel like they kind of sink back into their old ways together and have each other’s back. And Bishop on this one is just like, we’re getting to the bottom of this, and they’re in it together.

What’s surprising Bishop about the Gibbs that she’s seeing now?

I think that there is a quality about Gibbs that Bishop sees that’s different. It’s a bit more, maybe more, as Bishop is; I think Gibbs seems more settled in himself as well.

Do you think Bishop was tempted to go stop by her old headquarters, see people?

Always. Always I think she’s tempted.

Because I was wondering, do you think she told Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) that she’s in DC or not, because then she’d have to explain why?

I don’t know. They have a special connection, so I would imagine maybe, maybe so.

Do you think they’re in touch? Because it feels like things are never resolved with those two.

Oh yeah. No, I think they’re in touch in little ways. I don’t think it’s a daily thing, but it’s like there’s people in your life that you don’t shake, you just have such a connection with, and I think that they’re like that. They’re always, even if they don’t talk for months, they’re in contact. They have a string that ties them together.

Can you say how many episodes you’re in?

A bunch. [Laughs]

Can you say if we’ll see Bishop with any other familiar faces while she’s with Gibbs?

You will.

Is there anything you can say just in general about working with whoever that is?

I think as the scripts came out, I was surprised who was coming out of the woodworks, and I was so excited that Michael, Tony was going to be there, and I think that there’s a lot of fun surprises for the fans along the way, which will be awesome for this season.

Is there anything that you’ve learned about Bishop that surprised you in coming back into the role on Origins?

I was surprised to be asked to be on the show since it takes place in the 90s. [Laughs] That was surprising.

But who Bishop is now, it’s just more of what we saw from our last season, what we’re seeing from her in this episode?

Yeah, I think the information that I’ve gotten is it’s basically what we saw last season; Bishop is kind of still in that world doing that thing.

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Do you think she could ever go back to a regular job as she had with NCIS and an almost desk job compared to what she’s doing now?

Sure. I think as her retirement-ish time. I’ve been watching the show Lioness, and I feel like I almost imagine it in some ways like that a bit. It’s like they’re off doing these crazy missions, and I think that is a very difficult lifestyle that people can live, but I think also at some point people might crave a little bit more sanity in their everyday lives and consistency. And I think that if Bishop ever does crave that, that would be going back to NCIS, even though you don’t even know what’s going to happen day to day on that.

Which character from the ’90s do you think Bishop would have the most fun working alongside?

Well, I love all of them personally. I think this cast is so cool and so talented and so fun. I could see Bishop and Lala [Mariel Molino] having so much fun — and I mean every cast member really, but I always feel like it’s such a kind of guy’s world that when the women are working together, it’s pretty neat.

Do you think Bishop could have still been happy if she’d stayed at NCIS all this time?

Maybe. I think there would be a constant search for more and just curiosity about what else she can be doing out there to help, and I think that was boiling up inside her.

Yeah, because she’s really thriving. Even just when she’s like, “I’m off the books, you call me for off-the-books things,” it just feels like that’s who she is.

Totally. I think it’s interesting, the evolution of her coming from the NSA and really being in the books and in the computer. I really think, over the years, the character has grown, and I love the storyline that they came up with last year, and I love where she’s gone.

Because also it feels like she was more still when we first met her, because she would always be sitting somewhere or whatever, but now it’s really she’s on the move.

Yeah, I think she’s really grown into herself. She’s found these parts of herself. She’s accessed these parts of herself or turned them on in a way that they weren’t on before, and now they are, and I think it’s more her.

And that all goes back to working with Gibbs and working with the team.

Yeah.

So it’s a nice little full circle to see her back with Gibbs now.

Totally.

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