‘NCIS: LA’: David James Elliott on Harm & Mac’s ‘Distance’ & That ‘JAG’ Coin Toss
Q&A
Attention, JAG fans!
NCIS: Los Angeles enlists a very special guest for Sunday’s hour: heroic, handsome Navy captain Harmon Rabb Jr. (David James Elliott) from the beloved CBS military legal drama — the show that spun off the original NCIS before wrapping its 10-season run in 2005.
Harm, now second-in-command of an aircraft carrier, is called upon to help Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J) investigate ISIS sympathizers.
Even more exciting, the May 19 NCIS: LA season finale reunites Harm with his longtime love interest, Lt. Col. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie (Catherine Bell). It’s both characters’ first time back on TV, but are they still together?
(Bill Inoshita/CBS)
Elliott fills us in.
Fourteen years ago, JAG ended with couple Harm and Mac tossing a coin to determine whose career would take precedence. But we never saw the outcome!
David James Elliott: You find out what happened. [At this point] they haven’t been in touch for some time. There’s been some distance. But we work together again and interact and get along very much like we did back then.
Why did you want to reprise the role?
Harm’s evolved. He’s no longer practicing law. The stakes are higher. He’s got more responsibility. He’s still fighting for truth and justice, moral but flawed. It was surreal the first day on set, as though I’d never left.
Did you still fit into your old uniform?
It still fits. How ’bout that? I told them, “You better bring the original uniform. It may fit even better.” I’ve been a Brazilian jujitsu practitioner for the last 12 years. I got to do a little today on set.
(Erik Voake/CBS)
Wow. So Harm jumps into action!
He’s always been the first guy in the firefight. There’s a lot of action aboard the carrier and off. He even does some flying. We use cameras moving around an actual F-14 fuselage.
Would you do a JAG revival?
I wouldn’t say no. There’s no end of story possibilities on the carrier — intrigue, world affairs. It could be Star Trek at sea.
NCIS: Los Angeles, Sunday, 10/9c, CBS
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