Leroy Jethro Gibbs is back on our TV screens thanks to NCIS: Origins, but he’s understandably not being played by Mark Harmon (aside from some brief scenes in the two-part premiere). While Harmon remains involved in the prequel as narrator and one of the executive producers, Austin Stowell is bringing the younger Gibbs to life in this new offering on the 2024 TV schedule. As Origins begins its run on CBS, Stowell has shared his funny take on why he doesn’t mind being single as he’s shooting the show.
Although Stowell has previously received attention for movies and TV shows like Bridge of Spies and Catch-22, NCIS: Origins sees him playing the lead character on a new show set in a popular procedural franchise on one of the main broadcast TV networks. So now a lot more people will be getting to know him, which will in turn lead to more interest in his personal life. On the romance front, though, there’s nothing for the actor to share given his busy schedule. As he told People:
I'm in a relationship with a TV show. I am here Monday through Friday … Remember those 300 people that I was telling you about? They are all my boyfriends and girlfriends.
Making episodes of a TV show is a complicated effort, with a lot of hours and hundreds of people being involved in that process. So with the way his NCIS: Origins workload is right now, Austin Stowell just doesn’t have the time to pursue a romantic relationship. Instead, he’s spending the majority of time with the Origins cast and crew member, and it’s amusing that he looks at them as his “boyfriends and girlfriends.” However, if Stowell was looking to find a romantic partner, he mentioned that “kindness” would be an important quality for them to have. As he put it:
I think the way that someone treats someone on the street, you can really learn a lot about them in those moments.
Austin Stowell’s comments on his current lack of a love life fittingly come as he plays a character who also isn’t interested in dating, albeit for much different reasons. NCIS: Origins takes place several months after Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ wife Shannon and daughter Kelly were killed by a drug dealer named Pedro Hernandez. While Gibbs assassinated Hernandez soon after, the loss of his wife and daughter obviously still weigh heavy on him. In fact, NCIS viewers know that while Gibbs will go on to marry three more times, he’ll remain haunted by what happened to Shannon and Kelly, never truly finding peace until his ext in early Season 19.
New episodes of NCIS: Origins air Mondays at 10 pm ET on CBS, and can be streamed afterwards with a Paramount+ subscription. Austin Stowell’s co-stars include Kyle Schmid, Mariel Molino, Diany Rodriguez and Tyla Abercrumbie, and Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North created the series.