In January 2024, CBS announced a straight-to-series order for the spinoff, which is set in the early ’90s and follows a young version of Mark Harmon’s longtime NCIS protagonist, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, as a new agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office. The show chronicles Gibbs’ early career as he forges his own path on a team led by NIS legend Mike Franks.

Austin Stowell, whose TV credits include Secret Life of the American Teenager and Peacock’s A Friend of the Family, plays Gibbs, while Kyle Schmid (SIX) plays Franks.

The series regular cast also includes Mariel Molino (Promised Land) as Special Agent Lala Dominguez, a former Marine with a dark sense of humor; Diany Rodriguez (The Blacklist) as Special Agent Vera Strickland, “a no-nonsense, sharp-witted Brooklynite who’s tough as nails”; Tyla Abercrumbie (The Chi) as Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Hayes; and Caleb Foote (Made for Love) as Special Agent Benjamin “Randy” Randolf, an all-too-lovable “golden boy” tasked with showing the newly minted Agent Gibbs the ropes.

Mark Harmon will not appear in the series, but he will serve as its narrator (as well as an executive producer). His son, Sean Harmon, who has played Young Gibbs in NCIS flashbacks and came up with the idea for the prequel, will also serve as an EP alongside co-showrunners Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North.

The NCIS prequel series premieres Monday, Oct. 14 on CBS; episodes will be streamed on Paramount+ the day after they air.