NCIS: Origins To Bring Back NCIS Vets Franks, Vera, And Fornell To Help Gibbs This Season — Get A First Look
More familiar faces from Gibbs' past are coming back to help him out on "NCIS: Origins."
"NCIS" veterans Muse Watson (Franks), Roma Maffia (Vera), and Joe Spano (Fornell) will reprise their roles on the CBS prequel series later this season, TVLine has confirmed. (Deadline first reported the news.) They'll each guest-star in separate episodes: Watson will appear in the episode airing Tuesday, November 17 at 10 p.m., with Maffia following on December 1 and Spano on December 8.
CBS has also released a series of first-look photos from their upcoming episodes, which you can see above and below.
The three franchise vets "will appear as part of the season's present-day storyline following Gibbs, with each providing key insight into the truth behind Lala Dominguez's disappearance and the events that shaped Gibbs and the 'Origins' team decades earlier," according to the official synopsis. (Gibbs revealed earlier this season that Lala died in a plane crash years ago... but that might not be the whole story.)
Maffia and Watson also appeared on NCIS: Origins last season
Mark Harmon will appear in every episode of "NCIS: Origins" this season, with present-day Gibbs taking a bullet from an unknown shooter in the premiere and trying to piece together who's after him. Harmon reunited with Michael Weatherly earlier this season, with Tony DiNozzo taking over as director on "NCIS," and Emily Wickersham returns for multiple episodes as Bishop, using her undercover skills to help Gibbs solve the mystery. (Check out our interview with Wickersham about Bishop's return.)
Muse Watson appeared in 20 episodes of "NCIS" as Gibbs' friend and mentor Mike Franks, with Roma Maffia playing fellow agent Vera Strickland in a pair of "NCIS" episodes. (Kyle Schmid and Diany Rodriguez play Franks and Vera in the '90s timeline on "Origins.") Both Watson and Maffia also appeared in last season's "NCIS"/"NCIS: Origins" crossover.
Joe Spano debuted as Tobias Fornell, "the former FBI Special Agent who became one of Gibbs' closest friends and longtime allies," in the first season of "NCIS," appearing in nearly 60 episodes altogether. This marks his first appearance on "Origins."
Check out Fornell and Gibbs back in action below, and then hit the comments to give us your thoughts on the big reunion.
CBS