Mark Harmon played special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs for 18 seasons of NCIS before leaving in Season 19. The original show has soldiered on without him — it will soon be back for its 24th season — but the franchise has had trouble letting him go. Harmon showed up as Gibbs in the series premiere of the prequel show NCIS: Origins, and appeared in a special Veterans Day crossover episode with the mothership series. He’s also narrated every episode of Origins, which is about Gibbs’ life as a young probationary agent of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) at Camp Pendleton in the 1990s. Austin Stowell plays this younger version of the character. In June, we learned that Harmon will return as Gibbs for a season-long arc on the upcoming third season of NCIS: Origins. The third season will have two parallel storylines: the younger Gibbs will investigate a case in the past at Camp Pendleton, and the modern-day Gibbs will pick it up years later. NCIS: Origins Season 3 will premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 p.m. CT. Episodes will drop on Paramount+ at the same time as they air on CBS, so you can watch them linearly or stream them as you choose. After that, new episodes will air every Tuesday night.

Season 3 will have 10 episodes in all. The first two seasons had 18 episodes apiece, so this season will be shorter. But if that’s the price to have Mark Harmon back, a lot of fans will probably be willing to pay it. The original NCIS show will also start airing new episodes on Oct. 6, as will the new spin-off series NCIS: New York. It’ll be a big night for NCIS fans. Last we saw Gibbs on NCIS, he had retired to Alaska to live the quiet life. In that Veterans Day crossover episode, modern technology allowed the NCIS team to reexamine clues from a case Gibbs worked on in the 1990s concerning the death of a naval officer. That provided an excuse to rope the modern-day Gibbs into the story. Perhaps the third season of NCIS: Origins can do something similar.

Although it’s understandable that Harmon wanted a break from the NCIS franchise after over a decade at its center, it’s good to see him getting back into action. And he’s not the only franchise veteran making a comeback. Michael Weatherly left the original show in 2016 after playing senior special agent Tony DiNozzo for 13 seasons, but will return for Season 24.

Release Date

October 14, 2024

Network

CBS

Directors

Niels Arden Oplev, John Terlesky, Diana Valentine, Edward Ornelas, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Lionel Coleman, Loren Yaconelli, Pete Chatmon, Pamela Romanowsky, Ruben Garcia, Jessica Lowrey

Kyle Schmid

Special Agent Mike Franks

Mariel Molino

Special Agent Lala Dominguez

Tyla Abercrumbie

FOS Officer Mary Jo Hayes