NCIS: Origins Casts Mariel Molino as Female Lead Opposite Austin Stowell — Will ‘Sparks’ Fly With Young Gibbs?
Young Gibbs just got some company. Mariel Molino (ABC’s Promised Land) has been cast opposite Austin Stowell in CBS‘ upcoming prequel series NCIS: Origins, our sister site Deadline reports.
Molino will portray Special Agent Lala Dominguez, a former Marine with a dark sense of humor. Per CBS’ official description, “when a tormented Leroy Jethro Gibbs joins her team, the ensuing story between these two enigmatic outsiders is filled with sparks and turns that will keep the audience guessing.”
The newest chapter in the NCIS franchise, which is set shortly after the death of Gibbs’ first wife, will be narrated by Mark Harmon, who portrayed the character for 19 seasons on the flagship series.
Origins picks up in 1991, just as Gibbs is starting his career as a newly minted Special Agent at the fledgling NIS Camp Pendleton office. There, Jethro forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by franchise legend Mike Franks (who was played on the mothership by Muse Watson). TVLine previously reported that NCIS: Origins will also feature a young version of Special Agent Vera Strickland, Franks’ onetime partner played by Roma Maffia in a Season 11 NCIS episode.
Mark Harmon’s son Sean Harmon — who has played a younger version of Gibbs in several NCIS flashbacks, and who came up with the idea for NCIS: Origins — will executive-produce the new series along with his dad and co-showrunners Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North.
Curious to see how it works. Even if they do a Will they/won’t they with the two. We know Gibbs will eventually marry three different women before we met him in 2003. And his late wife was his soulmate. We know the names of the wives. It’s going to be interesting. The 90’s was a very different time in technology, and just the world, and to watch it with today’s eyes…
Can’t really play the will they won’t they end up together card because we already know they won’t. It’s one reason why I don’t like origin shows – the mystery element is gone, we know how it all ends up.
Can’t say I will be watching this.
actually, all we know is they don’t get married – he was involved with Jenny Shepherd without marrying her – they could have a relationship –
Yep. It makes most prequels, not all, but most pointless. If you have a brain then no matter what twists and turns they put in, you know the outcome.
I am so sick of procedurals forcing soapy romance storylines between lead characters into their plots, often at the expense of good mysteries. If I wanted to watch a soap, there are plenty of better ones than these hour-long HR violations.
Longevity is the problem. It is hard to come up with 100+ “good mysteries.” Even including a bunch of filler eps. The melodrama of relationship stuff can flesh out a weak script. It keeps fans engaged.
.
I loved the mothership, but a big part of that was Tiva (and Kate before Ziva). Once I realized that I was being jerked around about the relationship, I bailed. Obviously, the show didn’t miss my viewership. But lesser shows might need all the eyeballs they can get.
I hope they begin the series with his wife and daughter’s death and his coma and lead up to August of 91 in the first few episodes.
What’s funny about this show to me is that if it’s starting in 1991, that’s only 12 years before the original NCIS began. I looked it up and Austin Stowell is the right age to play Gibbs circa 1991, but it really means this series is going to have kind of a limited life. Once you hit Season 10 or so, you’re going to have to believe he’s aged into 50 years old Mark Harmon and is about to recruit Dinozzo haha
Well, no one said that each season had to be a year in the life of the characters. If the seasons represented a shorter linear span (like 6 months) that would give 24 seasons before the original began.
That would be ridiculous. The young Gibbs is the right age for playing him circa 1991 but it would be dumb if we have him in his early 50’s a decade or so from now, which is how old Harmon was when the OG started. Double dumb if he is still trying to play younger.
How does the timeframe of this show fit in with his first wife and daughter?
It’s post Shannon and Kelly’s death. When he first is beginning at NCIS or it’s former name NIS, at Pendleton as a agent.
I hope it shows how Gibbs became Gibbs. The trials and tribulation that brought about his rules. Like they showed the making of rule 51. A few was before he was with NIS. And Franks as Franks. And remember, the show is about Gibbs
I’m surprised they didn’t make the character a young Jenny Shepard.
Except that according to the show’s canon Gibbs doesn’t meet Jenny until 1996 or 1997.
oooh I wonder if we’ll meet a young Jenny Shepard!
Young Gibbs and female agent. Is this the origins of Agent Gibbs or a retelling of the budding romance between Tony and Ziva?
Ready and waiting .