CBS brought none other than Leroy Gibbs back to primetime last fall, almost three years to the date from when Mark Harmon left NCIS as a series regular in 2021. The NCIS: Origins version of Gibbs is played by Austin Stowell, with the action set in the early years of the character's career. Despite Harmon appearing early on, the story belongs to the Gibbs who is just finding his footing at Camp Pendleton in 1991. Well, the series will include another first for the iconic TV character at some point after its return in the 2025 TV schedule, and the co-showrunner shared why she's "really excited" ahead of Season 2.
The show set the stage for the second season back in the spring with its shocking Season 1 finale twist, which aired after NCIS: Origins scored a renewal from CBS earlier in 2025. Gibbs certainly had some accomplishments by the end of Season 1, but he still has a ways to go before he matches the formidable Gibbs played by Mark Harmon in NCIS. Speaking with TVLine, co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal said:
One thing we haven’t shown yet, that I’m really excited for, is Gibbs’ first interrogation. We’ve seen him question people, outside in the field and in the elevator, but we haven’t seen him yet in interrogation properly grilling somebody — and I’m excited to see what that first will look like.
Gibbs spent so much time in interrogations on the original series that I can't help but get excited at the prospect of comparing early Gibbs' approach to Gibbs as we last saw him as a series regular. The co-showrunner didn't give away when exactly fans will see the first interrogation, but CBS has confirmed that NCIS: Origins will return for Season 2 on Tuesday, October 14 at 9 p.m. ET. (It will also be available streaming next day with a Paramount+ subscription.) Co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal furthermore has teased Gibbs moving past "probie" status.
Starting this fall, the network has a full night devoted to NCIS franchise action on Tuesdays. CBS' Tuesday night lineup will kick off with NCIS at 8 p.m. ET, continue with NCIS: Origins at 9 p.m. ET, and conclude with NCIS: Sydney at 10 p.m. ET. A full night of the NCIS world on Tuesday nights marks a swap with the FBI franchise. Prior to the two spinoffs getting cancelled this spring, FBI, FBI: International, and FBI: Most Wanted all aired on Tuesday nights.
This strikes me as a notable vote of confidence for the franchise from the network. Interestingly, the 8 p.m. ET slot for NCIS marks the show's return to that particular hour of Tuesday primetime. NCIS had been airing on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS for the past several years, going back to Season 19 in 2021. The three-hour block of FBI action evidently didn't deliver the kinds of results that CBS was hoping for; perhaps expanding the NCIS franchise and returning the OG series to its former slot this time will be a winner.
If you want to relive Gibbs' earliest days before conducting an interrogation, you can check out the full first season of NCIS: Origins streaming on Paramount+, as well as every season so far of NCIS. Both shows return to CBS on Tuesday, October 14.
