When the characters of Jethro Gibbs and Tony DiNozzo reunite for the first time in a decade in Tuesday night’s episode of “NCIS: Origins,” there will be no head slaps — something that may disappoint a few original “NCIS” but will probably be a relief to most. After all, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since these two characters first established a somewhat fraternal but definitely hierarchal bond when the mothership series began 23 years ago. Michael Weatherly is back on “NCIS” this season in the DiNozzo character’s new and matured role as director of the agency, while Mark Harmon‘s Gibbs remains retired but has a case of his own to solve across this entire season of the spinoff series.
Their reunion at the beginning and end of the Oct. 20 “Origins” episode is short but will be extremely sweet to the fans who’ve longed to see the fictional and real men share a frame again. The hunger to see it happen was hardly lost on “NCIS: Origins” showrunner David North, who wrote for these characters on “NCIS” back in the day. The spinoff, which portrays Gibbs as an up-and-comer in the early ’90s, has intimately involved Harmon as an executive producer and narrator, but not so much an on-screen presence until a present-day flash-forward story was added for season 3.
That was coup enough, in terms of bringing in some older “NCIS” fans who hadn’t yet checked out the new series, but bringing in Weatherly for a crossover moment is a cherry on top for the conjoined procedurals. North talked with Variety about what this old-home week means for himself as well as franchise fans, and also addressed what we might see transpire between the young Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and his love interest, Special Agent Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) before the season wraps up… plus, the eternality of Ducky. For longtime “NCIS” fans, a Gibbs/DiNozzo reunion is an event.
Was it something you’d hoped could happen for a long time, or does it count as much more spur of the moment than that? For a long time, as just a fan of the franchise, it was something I’d always hoped would happened. But to be honest, I didn’t really ever foresee it happening in “Origins,” until after season 2, when I really started coming up with this idea of a story that would happen in present-day.
Once I approached Mark and pitched him a story, and he was down to do it, then we really started talking about, “OK, well, what opportunities are here and what would we want to see as fans?” Obviously getting Mark and Michael back together on set was really an ambitious idea. I’m so glad it came to fruition because it was unbelievably special to see it happen there on the day, and then we’re really proud of how it came out. It was awesome to see them together and to see them chatting in-between shots.
And they both hit the ground running. You wouldn’t have thought there was 10 years in between. I know for all of us there, we kind of just were watching and admiring them and thinking of what they had accomplished together.
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