The NCIS franchise created television history by bringing two versions of Leroy Jethro Gibbs together on screen. Actor Austin Stowell, who plays the younger Gibbs in NCIS: Origins, recently shared his thoughts on the technical and emotional process of filming a major crossover transition with Mark Harmon.
The crossover event, which aired on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, on CBS, featured a unique scene. It began with Mark Harmon as the present-day Gibbs in Alaska before transitioning to Austin Stowell playing the same character in the early 1990s. Stowell has called watching this transition “very special, very, very special to me”.
Creating a seamless visual handoff from one actor to another, decades apart, required extreme technical precision. Stowell explained that the production team used laser pointers and laser measurements to align both actors exactly in the right spot.
“You had to get everything lined up exactly,” Stowell said. “So they were using laser pointers and using laser measurements to put us exactly in the right spot.”
This meticulous setup was necessary to make the transition look natural and believable for the audience. For Stowell, this technical effort also carried a deeper meaning. He saw it as a sign of confidence from the show’s creators and the network in his portrayal of the iconic character.
Austin Stowell made a point to be on set to watch Mark Harmon film his part of the scene. He felt it was important to observe the man who created the character of Gibbs for over 19 seasons.
“I was there the first time that [Harmon] shot when he was in the opening of Season 1 because I feel like, ‘This is the guy that created the character,’” Stowell shared. “I want to see everything he does. I would like to see the guy who played Gibbs be Gibbs.”
Stowell approached the role with respect for its legacy, not as a replacement. His goal was to understand what made Harmon’s Gibbs so compelling to viewers and to “keep going” with that character’s essence.
The two-part event, comprising NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 5 “Funny How Time Slips Away” and NCIS Season 23, Episode 5 “Now & Then”, told a single story across more than 30 years. For the special night, the two shows swapped their usual time slots, with Origins airing at 8:00 PM ET/PT and NCIS following at 9:00 PM ET/PT.
The story followed a case that began in 1992. Young Gibbs and his team at Camp Pendleton investigated the murder of a retired naval officer in a small town. The case was unexpectedly reopened in the present day by the Washington D.C. NCIS team after a prison break.
Executive producers noted the unique challenge of crafting a story that could connect across such a long time. “There was a lot of communication back and forth. ‘Can you set this up in your episode?’ ‘Oh, can you pay this off in yours?’” said Origins executive producer Gina Lucita Monreal.
The crossover was significant for several character and franchise developments. A major moment was the origin of Gibbs’s Rule #11, which states, “When the job is done, walk away.” The episode showed viewers the specific event from this 1992 case that led Gibbs to create this lasting rule.
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The event also featured the return of other familiar characters. Roma Maffia reprised her role as Vera Strickland, appearing in both time periods. The episode also served as a tribute to the character Mike Franks, with a poignant mention that he visited a key figure in the case every year in prison until Franks’s own death.
For Austin Stowell, the experience of the crossover transition was a defining moment. He continues to focus on building the early life of a man who would become a television icon, guided by the foundation Mark Harmon built.
“I know that those are big shoes to fill and I try not to think in those terms,” Stowell said about following Harmon. “It’s just how to connect to people. That’s all I kind of think about.”
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