The last thing Gibbs said to Tony was short. That was how Gibbs talked.
“You take care of yourself and your family, DiNozzo.”
“Copy that, boss.”
That was “Family First,” the Season 13 finale of NCIS, in May 2016. Tony had just found out he had a daughter, Tali, and he was leaving the agency to raise her. Gibbs didn’t make a speech or try to stop him. He let him go.
That was ten years ago. Next Tuesday, the two of them finally share a screen again.
The Reunion Fans Stopped Expecting
Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly reunite in “Return of the Mack,” Season 3, Episode 3 of NCIS: Origins. It airs Tuesday, October 20, at 10/9c on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
CBS made it official in its announcement, which notes the two actors worked together on NCIS for 13 seasons. The network’s own description of the reunion is short: Gibbs comes back to NCIS headquarters in D.C. “to enlist the help of new director Tony DiNozzo after Gibbs was shot by unknown assailants.”
So Gibbs, who used to give Tony the orders, now needs Tony’s help.
How Gibbs Got Here
Gibbs left the flagship show in “Great Wide Open,” Season 19, Episode 4, in October 2021. He chose a quiet life in Alaska over going back to the job.
He never fully left the franchise, though. Harmon is an executive producer on NCIS: Origins, the prequel about young Gibbs at Camp Pendleton in the early ’90s, and he narrates every episode. Austin Stowell plays the younger Gibbs, and Harmon’s voice is the older man looking back.
This season, Harmon is also on screen in all ten episodes. That’s part of a present-day mystery tied to Gibbs’s Camp Pendleton years. If you’ve lost count of his appearances, we tallied every Gibbs episode so far.
The present-day story kicked off in the October 6 premiere. Someone shot Gibbs at his Alaska cabin. The shooter thought he was dead and said, “One down, one to go.”
He wasn’t dead.
In the second episode, Gibbs came back to civilization and called in a favor from his old friend Woody (Bobby Moynihan), who ran a fingerprint Gibbs took off his own neck. Origins showrunner David J. North told TV Insider that the fingerprint will “directly lead” to the reunion.
The obvious question is who “one to go” means. CBS hasn’t said whether it’s Tony.
Tony’s Office Now
The timing helps the reunion. Weatherly is back on the flagship in Season 24, and Tony isn’t just visiting. He runs the agency now.
This week’s episode, “Clean Slate,” was his first day as Director, and McGee finally got to call him “probie.” (We covered that moment here.)
So when Gibbs walks into headquarters, he’s walking into Tony’s building.
The first-look photo from CBS shows the gap the years have made. Gibbs is older and gray, with a backpack on his shoulder. Tony is in a suit. They’re standing in the NCIS morgue, and nobody has explained why yet.
“It Was Like Coming Home”
North wouldn’t give away what happens. He did say what it was like to watch Harmon back on that set: “It felt surreal, incredible, hard to put into words. It was like coming home. Mark is amazing in those scenes. The fans are going to lose their minds.”
He added that after writing so many episodes and spending so many years with Harmon, being back there with him “was really moving and emotional.”
Weatherly wouldn’t say anything about crossovers before the season started. Asked about one, he answered, “Isn’t that a good question?” He did call Harmon “the OG” and said his Origins return would be “a huge resonant thunderclap to fans.”
Where It Started
It means more because of how it began. In the NCIS series premiere, Gibbs and Tony were the whole team. Kate, McGee, Abby’s lab and the rest of the family came later. At the start it was just the two of them.
Thirteen seasons of head slaps and movie quotes followed. Then came a quiet goodbye in the squad room and ten years apart.
Now Gibbs is back, hurt and needing help, and the one he goes to is the agent who was there from day one.
Tony told him “copy that” when he left. On October 20, we’ll find out what he says when Gibbs comes back.
