Culture 3 min read By Mason Emerson
NCIS: Origins Boss Previews Gibbs and Tony Reunion in Season 3
The showrunner of NCIS: Origins says Season 3 will bring Gibbs face to face with Tony DiNozzo and tease more familiar faces from the franchise's past, along with romantic progress for Gibbs and Lala.
NCIS: Origins is set to reunite Leroy Jethro Gibbs with a familiar face from his future team. The showrunner of the CBS prequel series says Season 3 will feature a reunion between Gibbs and Tony DiNozzo, and has hinted that more characters from the franchise's past will appear as the season unfolds.
The reunion marks a significant moment for the series, which follows a younger Gibbs during his early years at the Naval Investigative Service in the 1990s. Tony DiNozzo, played by Michael Weatherly in the original NCIS, was a member of Gibbs' team at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. How the younger Gibbs encounters Tony in the prequel timeline has not been detailed, but the showrunner described the meeting as a key event for the season.
Beyond the Gibbs-Tony reunion, the showrunner teased that additional familiar faces from the NCIS universe will surface in Season 3. The series has already established a pattern of connecting its 1990s storylines to characters and events that viewers know from the flagship show, and the new season appears to continue that approach.
The showrunner also addressed the personal storyline between Gibbs and Lala, indicating that the relationship will see romantic progress in the coming episodes. The Gibbs-Lala dynamic has been a recurring thread in the prequel, and the new season will apparently move it forward rather than keep it in a holding pattern.
Season 3 of NCIS: Origins will also bring back another original NCIS cast member. Emily Wickersham will guest star as Eleanor «Ellie» Bishop in multiple episodes, returning to the role she played on the flagship series. Her first appearance is scheduled for the Tuesday, Oct. 27 episode titled «Shimmy Shimmy Ya.»
Wickersham's Bishop was a series regular on NCIS from Season 11 through Season 18. Her return to the franchise in Origins adds another layer to the prequel's growing roster of guest stars drawn from the main show's history.
The combination of the Gibbs-Tony reunion, Wickersham's return as Bishop, and the teased romantic development for Gibbs and Lala suggests Season 3 will lean heavily on continuity with the larger NCIS franchise while continuing to develop its own characters. The showrunner's comments indicate that the season is designed to reward longtime viewers who recognize the connections, while still serving the prequel's standalone storylines.
NCIS: Origins airs on CBS. The Season 3 episode featuring Wickersham's first appearance is set for Tuesday, Oct. 27.
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