NCIS is a massive franchise with six standalone shows to offer. The original series is still the best installment, however, especially for new fans who want to break into its expanded universe.
Hulu is streaming NCIS Seasons 1 to 11 starting on Nov. 8. That’s a great introduction to the series and the broader franchise. The concept and characters for the show were first teased in two JAG episodes; Season 8’s “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown” introduced NCIS through a two-part backdoor pilot that aired on Apr. 22 and 29, 2003 on CBS. Both episodes featured guest appearances from NCIS mainstays Pauley Perrette, Michael Weatherly, and Mark Harmon, whose character Leroy Jethro Gibbs became the show’s main protagonist. NCIS first aired on CBS in September 2003; it’s currently in its 22nd season, which premiered on Oct. 14, 2024.
Harmon exited the show in 2021 after reprising his role for 19 seasons. Gibbs was considered an integral character to NCIS at that point, and the actor’s departure was as impactful as Steve Carrell’s from The Office after seven seasons. Harmon confirmed his exit was definitive, however, citing NCIS’s schedule prevented him from taking on “fresh” and “challenging” material. Season 19’s “Great Wide Open” marked the final episode for Harmon’s Leroy Gibbs, who chose to stay in Alaska after closing a case there with Sean Murray’s McGee. Harmon asserted Gibbs had found peace in the episode but still hasn’t retired from the profession.
Mark Harmon Reflects On His NCIS Exit
“What has always drawn me here [to NCIS, not Alaska] is the character I play and to keep it fresh and to keep it challenging,” Harmon told Parade. “Plot-wise, this character has taken the path that it did. I thought it was honest and OK with, ‘I’m not retired.’ The character is living in Alaska as far as I know.” Showrunner Steven Binder said they intended to leave Gibbs’ story fulfilled but wide open: “It just didn’t seem right to put him actually anywhere, so we ended up putting him nowhere,” he said. “He went off into the wilderness, into the wild. And that left open any possibility. It didn’t leave the audience with any specific thing. It allowed the audience to imagine what happened to Gibbs. He can come back. He’s safe. He’s happy.”
Gibbs’ storyline has now come full circle with NCIS: Origins, the latest installment to the franchise. The show will explore Gibbs’ backstory before he became the head of NCIS. Origins featured a younger Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell), a recruit to the Naval Investigative Service, which later became NCIS. Harmon reprises his role as an older Gibbs and the recurring narrator in the episodes. NCIS: Origins showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal asserted the show offered a different side of Gibbs, who was portrayed as a stoic, reserved character in the original series.
Having written this character for so many years who was a man of few words, it’s just super liberating to be able to get inside his head and to hear the words that were in his head this whole time.
“Having written this character for so many years who was a man of few words, it’s just super liberating to be able to get inside his head and to hear the words that were in his head this whole time,” Monreal told Parade. “Then Mark Harmon in and of himself is special. He’s a legend, and the Gibbs character as he portrayed it for so many years is iconic, so to have his voice as the anchor of our show is just so meaningful to us on a personal level and on a story level. I think our fans are really going to find meaning in that as well.”
NCIS Seasons 1 to 11 streams on Hulu on Nov. 8.