‘NCIS: Origins’: Meet Young Pride — and See Gibbs Punch Him (VIDEO)

How does Gibbs (Austin Stowell) go from throwing a punch at Pride (Shea Buckner) to later trusting him with his life, as the present-day version (Mark Harmon) says on NCIS? The March 17 episode of NCIS: Origins is going to dive into just that, with Buckner being introduced as the prequel’s version of Scott Bakula‘s NCIS: New Orleans character.

In the episode “Feelin’ Alright?” as CBS teases, “When a lieutenant’s water-logged body is discovered with a potential connection to an international smuggling ring, NIS Panama agents are called in to assist, and Gibbs comes face-to-face with an old nemesis: Special Agent Dwayne Pride. Once the two are assigned to a dangerous undercover mission together, Gibbs must find a way to move on from their past.” Also guest starring in this episode as younger versions of the rest of the Fed Five are Adam Kulbersh as Felix Betts (Adam Kulbersh) and Mark Deklin as Dan McLane; Kyle Schmid‘s Mike Franks is an Origins regular. The Fed Five became famous because of the Privileged Killer case, detailed in the NCIS episodes “Crescent City” that set up New Orleans.

The promo above and photos below offer a look at young Pride and McLane alongside the team — and Gibbs is not happy to see the former. In fact, Franks, alongside Wheeler (Patrick Fischler) and McLane, has to interrupt Gibbs and Pride arm wrestling in the NIS office to inform them they’re going undercover together. Watch the video to see the moment Gibbs punches Pride.

Origins will be “sticking to canon,” executive producer David J. North told TV Insider in December. “This is the timing of when this Fed Five would really start.” He also called it “the beginnings of [Gibbs and Pride’s] relationship, for sure. And let’s just say that their original introduction is not going to be at all what anyone expects.”

Austin Stowell was careful when teasing their dynamic but did tell us, “You don’t mess with Gibbs’ family ever, and he’s not quick to forget or forgive. You have to earn Gibbs’ trust and certainly you have to earn his allegiance and if you do something to make him think that you don’t deserve it, it’s going to take a lot to get it back. And so it is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We go through quite a bit. By the end of that episode, we are seeing the notes of what we know becomes a very powerful friendship and working relationship that they go through a lot together and taking down huge global crime syndicates. So to get from there, we can’t make it easy. We don’t do easy on this show, that’s for sure.”

Scroll down to check out the photos from this episode, then let us know what you’re hoping to see from Gibbs and young Dwayne Pride in the comments section below.

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