Major ‘NCIS’ Reunion! 3 Fan-Favorite Icons Return to Help Gibbs Solve His Biggest Unsolved Mystery on ‘NCIS: Origins’
The mystery from Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ (Mark Harmon) past continues to unfold on NCIS: Origins as characters from his NCIS days return to help him on his quest to discover who the two men were behind the attempt on his life in Alaska, so he can save the next person on their list after one of them said, “One down, one to go.”
Even though Gibbs told NCIS Director Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) that he wanted to go it alone because the fewer people who know that he’s alive, the better chance he has of finding the perpetrators, he is going to get some help. First up, DiNozzo tasked Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) with aiding him.
Now, it has been revealed that Muse Watson, Roma Maffia and Joe Spano will each appear in separate episodes of Origins, reprising their roles as fan-favorite characters Mike Franks, Vera Strickland and Tobias Fornell, respectively. Watson will appear in the Nov. 17 episode, Maffia in the Dec. 1 episode and Spano in the Dec. 8 episode. The characters 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 (Mariel Molino) disappearance and the events that shaped the younger Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and the Origins team decades earlier.
Harmon appears in all 10 episodes of Season 3 of the ongoing mystery connected to Gibbs’ ‘90s Camp Pendleton days.
Spano has portrayed Tobias Fornell, the former FBI Special Agent who became one of Gibbs’ closest friends and longtime allies, since NCIS premiered in 2003. This marks his first appearance as Fornell on NCIS: Origins.
The character of Mike Franks is dead in modern-day, so it is safe to assume that Watson will appear in flashbacks. We last saw Franks during the crossover event in Season 23 with NCIS and Origins in November 2025.
As for the Roma Maffia version of Vera Strickland, she was forced into earlyNCIS: Origins airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
