Mark Harmon shaped the series NCIS for almost 20 years through the character of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. But the series could have had a very different fate if the actor hadn’t managed to bring about a major change before its launch.
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What might NCIS have looked like if Mark Harmon hadn’t been the lead? It’s impossible to say, but it’s certain that the series wouldn’t have been produced for 21 seasons and broken down into four more series (since after Los Angeles, Hawaii and New Orleans, an NCIS: Sydney saw the light of day in the USA in November 2023) . The now 72-year-old actor played the former Marine in more than 430 episodes, but hung up his gray jacket and impressive polo shirt collection in 2022, leaving Sean Murray (McGee) to star in the cast. Twenty years of life, which, however, depended on one detail, if the main character’s latest revelations are to be believed.
NCIS: Mark Harmon didn’t like that other name that Gibbs should have had at all
Mark Harmon is currently on a promotional tour for his novel Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy and shared some confidential words during an interview with our American colleagues on Entertainment Tonight. Especially about the construction of the character of Gibbs, which almost jeopardized the participation of the actor, who had just come out of the series “In the White House” at the time: “I didn’t expect that I would like the script so much when I first read it. “I read it.” others at the same time and I tried to find a project that would also allow me to stay at home because I had a young family that I wanted to take care of,” explained the “actor.” He added: “I read ‘Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ and said to myself, ‘Oh, I like that name.’ Then when I decided I liked the idea of participating in this project, they changed its name.” . They called him Bob Johnson or something. And I said, “No and no, that’s impossible. It has to be Leroy Jethro Gibbs.”.Mark Harmon admitted that he initially received rejection from the show’s creator before finally giving in.
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Could Gibbs appear on NCIS again? Mark Harmon answers
Although Gibbs’ character appears to have left the team for good, the circumstances of his departure do not entirely preclude the possibility of him occasionally reuniting with his former colleagues. When asked about this, Mark Harmon doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of him appearing on NCIS again: “He’s probably sitting in a river in Alaska fishing. Will he get out of this river? I don’t know it. Whether it is.” I imagined it on the production side, I don’t know.” Enough to revive the hopes of die-hard fans of the grumpy investigator.