NCIS: Origins Nabs New Major Cast Members

Moynihan is set to portray Woodrow “Woody” Browne, an overworked senior chemist and director of NCIS Forensic Lab who relies on an offbeat sense of humor to compensate for his lack of sleep. Lori Petty, on the other hand, will portray Dr. Lenora Friedman, an assistant medical examiner. Both actors made strides in their acting careers over the years and have appeared in numerous notable projects, so it’s not really that surprising that the showrunners offered them their respective roles on NCIS: Origins.

The series is currently a week in production, and besides the aforementioned Bobby Moynihan and Lori Petty, NCIS: Origins also features Mariel Molino as Cecilia “Lala” Dominguez, Caleb Foote as Bernard “Randy” Randolf, Kyle Schmid as Mike Franks, Diany Rodriguez as Vera Strickland, and Tyla Abercrumbie as Mary Jo Hayes. Mark Harmon will narrate and executive produce the series alongside his son, Sean Harmon, alongside North and Monreal—the latter pair reunited for NCIS: Origins after serving as writers on the original NCIS for ten years.

The narrative of NCIS: Origins places the show in 1991 and follows Gibbs as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office. It’s the latest of the many spin-offs the original series has produced since it’s release in 2003, with many of these taking crime investigative teams to other locations and, most recently, other countries. The most recently released series was NCIS: Sydney, which took place in Australia—recently green-lit for a second season—and introduced a whole new group of NCIS operatives that work with the Australian Federal Police.

NCIS: Origins was originally announced at the beginning of 2024 to the fandom’s content, with actor Austin Stowell set to play a younger version of Gibbs and Mark Harmon (who originally portrayed Gibbs) appearing as a now-retired agent who narrates the upcoming series. Even the teaser trailer for the show shows Gibbs enjoying his retirement, with the female narrator saying that the fans are about to learn how his story began after we all saw it end.

As previously stated, the original NCIS series premiered in 2003 on CBS and currently holds the title of the third-longest-running scripted, live-action US prime-time TV series currently airing, surpassed only by Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. The series continues to be massively popular among audiences, with an incredibly high rating, which subsequently led to the creation of four spin-off series (one of which has been canceled) that have already premiered and two spin-off series that are currently in various stages of development—including NCIS: Origins.

From what we know so far, NCIS: Origins is set to premiere on Paramount+ and CBS on October 14, 2024. Until then, you can rewatch any of the previous NCIS episodes on the aforementioned platforms.

Source: Variety