Austin Stowell stepped into Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ past for NCIS: ORIGINS, but the role has been shaping his own future, too.
“It has made me, Austin, a better person,” the actor told NCIS stars and “NCIS: Partners & Probies” podcast cohosts Brian Dietzen and Diona Reasonover. Stowell said playing Gibbs gives him a sharper awareness of wanting to learn from yesterday and do better today.
Stowell portrays the young Gibbs in the early 1990s, decades before the battle-tested investigator viewers met on NCIS. CBS said actor Mark Harmon, who originated the role, will appear in every episode of NCIS: ORIGINS’ third season as a present-day mystery unfolds alongside Stowell’s story.
He almost missed that chapter entirely. Stowell said he deleted the first email about NCIS: ORIGINS because he had long resisted network television and worried about a yearslong commitment, but his agent convinced him to meet with series co-creators David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal.
“It has been the greatest job I’ve ever had,” Stowell said.
As North and Monreal described the younger, mistake-prone Gibbs, Stowell recognized both the artistic challenge and the timing.
“I wish everybody could have a day where they get to come on set and be Gibbs,” he said.
Related: NCIS: ORIGINS Star Austin Stowell Has This to Say About Mark Harmon
Hollywood felt almost imaginary to Stowell when he was growing up in Connecticut. His mother taught elementary school, his father worked in steel, and he went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from the University of Connecticut in 2007.
He told the podcast that his mother encouraged her three sons to perform and follow what was inside them. A high school teacher later nudged him toward the stage and assured him that acting could become a career.
That same kind of encouragement met Stowell when he auditioned for NCIS: ORIGINS. During his screen test, Stowell recalled, Harmon pulled him aside, put both hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.
“Trust yourself. You have this. Trust yourself,” Harmon told him, according to Stowell.
The reassurance sent a jolt of confidence through Stowell. He walked into his final scene, followed his instincts and felt Gibbs click into place.
Stowell carried Harmon’s example beyond the audition room. He praised the cast, writers and crew behind NCIS: ORIGINS, saying the atmosphere feels like family and gives actors enough security to take creative risks.
“I hit the jackpot,” he said. He thanked the people around him, from the cast and writers to the crew.
“It’s a team. It is a team at the end of the day,” Stowell added when Dietzen asked about leading the call sheet.
Rather than build the show around himself, Stowell said he wants to make the sturdy frame of the boat and let everyone else help fill it in.
The role is no rookie’s first big break. Stowell’s CBS biography includes WHIPLASH, BRIDGE OF SPIES, BATTLE OF THE SEXES and CATCH-22, yet he described Gibbs as a rare character who changes the actor while the actor develops the role.
“This wonderful character and story gets to learn how to move through conflict, and it’s by reaching out to the helping hands,” Stowell said.
Stowell’s favorite part of Gibbs is not the badge or the gut instinct. It is a man learning to accept help, a sturdy picture of how character grows through correction and community.
The newest chapter arrives when NCIS: ORIGINS returns for Season 3 on Oct. 6 on CBS and Paramount+.
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