NCIS: Origins star Mark Harmon opened up his emotional reunion with former NCIS co-star Michael Weatherly.
10 years ago, Weatherly exited NCIS in the season 13 finale, marking the last time he and Harmon appeared together on the procedural franchise’s flagship series. However, thanks to NCIS: Origins, Tony DiNozzo and Leroy Jethro Gibbs finally reunited earlier this week in the episode “Return of the Mack,” with the latter seeking the former’s help in tracking down the people who targeted him. For Weatherly, acting opposite Harmon again was a particularly heartfelt experience.
In an official NCIS: Origins video posted by CBS, Weatherly recalled what it was like not only sharing screen time with Harmon a decade later, but with both their characters at very different stages of their lives compared to when they were last together. As the actor explained:
Returning as DiNozzo allowed me to do a scene with my old mentor, boss, father figure Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a.k.a. Mark Harmon. It was a lot more moving than I thought it was going to be. There was a lot going on in those scenes, a lot of moving parts, a lot of power dynamics shifting. There was a lot of father figure themes for me coming back as Director DiNozzo to becoming the father of, in a sense, the NCIS universe.
Both Harmon’s Gibbs and Weatherly’s Tony debuted in the JAG two-parter “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown,” which functioned as NCIS’s backdoor pilot. They were joined by Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto and David McCallum as Donald “Ducky” Mallard, and these four characters were joined by Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd as the five original NCIS series regulars. Caitlin was killed off in the season 2 finale, making Weatherly the second of the core quintet to leave the show. Harmon departed NCIS in the season 19 episode “Great Wide Open.”
Weatherly left NCIS to star in fellow CBS series Bull for six seasons. After that, he made a surprise cameo in NCIS season 21’s tribute episode to the late McCallum. From there, he and Cote de Pablo, who played Ziva David on NCIS for eight seasons as a series regular and reprised the character in seasons 16 and 17, teamed back up for the short-lived Paramount+-exclusive spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Now Weatherly is back for NCIS season 24, with Tony succeeding the late Leon Vance as the title law enforcement agency’s director.
Having a moment for Gibbs and DiNozzo to look back at NCIS' past was a beautiful moment, but it highlighted a major mistake from one episode.
Along with continuing to executive produce and narrate NCIS: Origins, season 3 sees Harmon appearing on camera in every episode for a present-day storyline. In the season 3 premiere, Gibbs was shot by an unknown assailant, though he slowed his breathing to make it seem like he was dead. With his resources as the new NCIS director, Tony identified the tracker who led the shooter to Gibbs’ home in Alaska. Gibbs will next seek help from Emily Wickersham’s Ellie Bishop in finding the shooter and learning the identity of their second target.
NCIS and NCIS: Origins air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, respectively, on CBS's fall 2026 TV schedule, with NCIS: New York sandwiched in between them.
