'NCIS: Origins' prequel announces star who will play a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs

"NCIS: Origins" has cast its Gibbs.

Austin Stowell will play the younger version of Mark Harmon's signature "NCIS" character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, in the drama's upcoming CBS prequel.

The series, which will be narrated by Harmon, will be set in 1991 and will follow Gibbs as he starts his career as a new special agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office where he lands on a team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks.

Stowell previously appeared in the 2019 Hulu war drama "Catch-22" and in the movies "Dolphin Tale," "Dolphin Tale 2," "Whiplash" and "Battle of the Sexes."

Harmon and his son Sean Harmon, who portrayed Gibbs in flashbacks on "NCIS," will executive produce "NCIS: Origins" alongside showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal.

“NCIS: Origins” is scheduled to premiere during CBS’ 2024-25 schedule.

Mark Harmon portrayed Gibbs for 18 seasons on "NCIS" beginning in 2003.

The veteran actor's final episode as a series regular, titled “Great Wide Open,” aired in October 2021, and showed Gibbs on a criminal case in Alaska.

While in the wilderness of Alaska, Gibbs found “a sense of peace” for the first time since his wife and daughter died, and told his partner Tim McGee (Sean Murray), “I’m not going back.”

In 2022, Harmon opened up about his exit from the show. "The character is living in Alaska as far as I know," he explained on an "NCIS" DVD set, according to "Entertainment Tonight."

The announcement about Stowell landing the role as the younger Gibbs on “NCIS: Origins” comes less than a week after Paramount+ announced on Feb. 28 that 10 episodes of a new “NCIS” spinoff featuring characters Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) and Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) had been ordered by the streaming service.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com