Although Sean Harmon portrayed a younger Leroy Jethro Gibbs in multiple episodes of NCIS , he won’t be doing so again for the upcoming prequel NCIS: Origins . Instead, he’s executive producing the series alongside his father, Mark Harmon , the original Gibbs actor, and Austin Stowell will play the Gibbs we’re following along with in 1991 a few months after his first wife Shannon and their daughter Kelly were murdered. Ahead of Origins ’ arrival to the 2024 TV schedule , Stowell recalled how he nearly missed learning he’d been cast in the CBS prequel, and Gibbs would be proud of what happened.
In an interview with EW , the Bridge of Spies and The Hating Game actor shared that after doing an initial reading, he flew to Los Angeles to do an official audition for NCIS: Origins in front of Mark and Sean Harmon, as well as fellow executive producers David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal. After taking some direction from the elder Harmon, who was ultimately impressed with how Stowell did, the new Gibbs actor went back home to Vermont.
One month later, he came close to missing the call informing him that he’d nabbed the role that Stephen Amell also auditioned for , with Stowell explaining: Where I live is off the grid a bit. I walked back into the house, just got back on to service again, and there was a phone call coming through. So, truly, two minutes before then, I wouldn't have gotten the call.
And it was David and Gina and they were telling me that, essentially, my .