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CBS had lofty casting plans for Leroy Jethro Gibbs but had it followed its original scheme, NCIS would have ended up looking so much different.
NCIS‘ original plans for Leroy Jethro Gibbs would have significantly changed the beloved police procedural. CBS’ longest-running police procedural has just celebrated its 20 years on the air, making it one of the longest-running scripted American primetime television series, only behind NBC’s Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order. Debuting in 2003, NCIS was the network’s effort to match the growing popularity of crime shows, particularly Dick Wolf’s Law & Order franchise on NBC. Despite a slow start, it eventually picked up steam, with the show climbing the ratings chart. Considering its continued popularity, no wonder CBS wants to keep it on the air for as long as possible.
Co-creators Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill found a way to differentiate NCIS from its peers by making the team focus on crimes involving the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps and their families. As with many long-running shows, it has gone through several cast reshuffles, with many cast exits over the years including Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd, who left after season 2, Michael Weatherly’s Anthony DiNozzo, who exited the series at the end of season 13, and Pauley Perretter’s Abby Sciuto, who stayed on until season 15. Despite their departures, however, NCIS continued to thrive because Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs remained the team’s undisputable leader.
Technically, NCIS is an ensemble series, with the show’s title pertaining to the team that handles the highly-specialized cases. That being said, much like Mariska Hargitay is the face of Law & Order: SVU and Shemar Moore’s Hondo Harrelson in SWAT, Harmon’s Gibbs has been the poster character of the CBS procedural until he left at the end of season 19. Brilliantly playing the same character for almost two decades, Harmon is already synonymous with Gibbs, so it’s difficult to imagine anyone else playing the role than him. As it turns out, however, Harmon wasn’t the original casting pick for the job.
According to executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson, Gibbs’ character was created with Harrison Ford playing him in mind. It isn’t difficult to imagine why the show’s creators thought the legendary movie star to lead the special agents. By the time that the procedural was being developed, Ford was already an established actor, mostly known for his heroic but edgy characters. Johnson admitted that the idea didn’t go further beyond Ford being the placeholder character for Gibbs. The role was not offered to the actor. In any case, NCIS landed the closest thing to Ford with someone like Harmon, who exemplified the same feel that they were going for Gibbs.
Bellisario wasn’t actually sold on Harmon playing Gibbs in NCIS at first. However, he changed his mind after seeing a tape of Harmon’s portrayal of a Secret Service agent Simon Donovan in The West Wing. Aside from being the perfect Gibbs, there was also another benefit to the producers deciding on Harmon in the lead role of the procedural. Because his acting career has always been tied to the small screen, Harmon was able to easily commit to almost two decades in NCIS. If Bellisario and co. pursued Ford for the role, it would be unlikely that he would be able to devote that much time to the project.
When NCIS debuted in 2003, Ford had already firmly established himself as a movie star, headlining a blockbuster year after year for two decades. He didn’t do any long-form series; for context, Ford didn’t have a main TV role until 2022’s Yellowstone prequel, 1923. Even if Ford accepted the offer to play Gibbs on NCIS, it’s unlikely that he would be able to devote his time to a project that is in production for around 9 to 10 months a year while also maintaining his big screen portfolio. He would have to eventually choose which media form to prioritize.
While it’s difficult to exactly say which format Ford would have chosen, it isn’t a reach to assume that he would have chosen the big screen, where he was already a known name. If it came to Ford leaving the police procedural, this could have meant the unceremonious end of NCIS, considering how central Gibbs was in its storytelling. Otherwise, NCIS would have needed to go for long periods of time without the team’s leader to accommodate Ford’s movie career. This would have been better than the show being canceled, but chances are, it would negatively impact its storytelling quality.
While Harmon’s Gibbs had long been the face of NCIS, the show’s success cannot be attributed to just a singular character. This means that a big part of the show’s appeal is the chemistry among the characters. Gibbs’ dynamic with his agents made it easy for viewers to get invested in the project, regardless of the cases that they tackled weekly. His relationship with Tony DiNozzo was particularly a big fan-favorite. Their mentor-mentee relationship eventually evolved into a father-and-son bond, albeit also involving the trademarked head slap gag. Similarly, Gibbs’ friendship with Donald “Ducky” Mallard, which predates the events of NCIS, is another core relationship in the series.
Having starred in countless iconic films such as the original Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner, the Indiana Jones franchise, and The Fugitive, there was no doubt that Ford was a much bigger celebrity compared to Harmon. Getting him involved in NCIS would have drawn much more attention to the series. However, it’s uncertain if he would have the same chemistry with the rest of the cast as Harmon did. Aside from possible scheduling issues due to his equally active movie career, Ford’s potential lack of chemistry with his co-stars could have resulted in the early end of NCIS.
Ultimately, everything turned out for the better for both NCIS and Ford. Giving the role of Gibbs to Harmon was arguably one of the most important decisions in the show. After two decades, it’s just difficult to consider anyone else playing the role better than Harmon did, and that says a lot since he was up against one of the most iconic movie stars ever. Meanwhile, Ford’s big screen career continued in the 2000s. Had he been locked to do NCIS, it’s unlikely that he would have been able to be as active in film as he was.
