NCIS: Origins’ Tyla Abercrumbe has shared an idea about how the prequel series could establish a familial connection with the flagship show.
Though she’s not one of the field agents comprising the rest of NCIS: Origins’ main cast, Abercrumbie’s Mary Jo Hayes plays a vital role in keeping Camp Pendleton’s NCIS office running efficiently in the early 1990s. Like Lala and Randy, Mary Jo is also a character who hadn’t appeared on the original NCIS beforehand, leaving her status in the present day unclear. However, Abercrumbie has pitched having Mary Jo secretly being related to one of the most important characters in the NCIS franchise‘s history.
During her appearance on Partners & Probies, the actor told hosts Brian Dietzen and Diona Reasonover, who plays Jimmy Palmer and Katie Hines, respectively, on NCIS, that she had envisioned Mary Jo and Rocky Carroll’s Leon Vance being related through an uncle of hers. Abercrumbie brought this up when a fan question was read about if her character could be “integrated” into NCIS at some point, saying:
I could see that happening. I thought about this. I thought about Rocky Carroll, having somehow… Mary Jo is related in some way where somebody says to me at some point, ‘What’s your uncle’s name?’ I say his name, and you know that he’s in the future. You know what I’m saying? And I talk about him at some point. ‘Cause you know he’s got the age on him that he could be related to me.
Carroll’s Vance was introduced midway through NCIS season 5 as the assistant NCIS director of the law enforcement agency. He then succeeded Jenny Sheppard as its director, and held that position for nearly two decades. Then Vance was killed in the NCIS season 23 episode “All Good Things,” where he was shot by a corrupt Army CID officer. He was greeted in the afterlife by Adam Campbell’s young Ducky Mallard, whom Adam Campbell also reprised in two NCIS: Origins episodes, before reuniting with his wife, Jackie.
If Abercrumbie’s idea to make Vance and Mary Jo related becomes a reality, then this could lay the groundwork for either a young Vance to appear on NCIS: Origins, or for an older Mary Jo to appear on NCIS. The only problem with the former option is it was established in the NCIS season 8 episode “Enemy Domestic” that Vance met Leroy Jethro Gibbs in 1999, seven years after the end of Origins season 2. So, the only way Vance could appear in the prequel is if he doesn’t share any screen time with Austin Stowell’s young Gibbs.
Whether that happens during NCIS: Origins season 3 or not, Abercrumbie is confirmed to be returning as a series regular. Season 3 will consist of just 10 episodes, airing in the 10 p.m. ET timeslot after the new spinoff NCIS: New York. Once that run is done, NCIS: Sydney season 4 will take over the 10 p.m. timeslot and air its 10 episodes during the 2027 midseason period.
Additionally, it’s been confirmed that Harmon will reprise Gibbs on camera in every season 3 episode. He already executive produces and narrates NCIS: Origins, and he previously appeared directly as Gibbs in the pilot and the season 2 “Funny How Time Slips Away,” which was one half of a crossover with NCIS. It was also heavily indicated that Gibbs avenged Vance’s murder off camera in the NCIS episode “Deal with the Devil.”
- Release Date
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October 14, 2024
- Directors
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Niels Arden Oplev, John Terlesky, Diana Valentine, Edward Ornelas, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Lionel Coleman, Loren Yaconelli, Pete Chatmon, Pamela Romanowsky, Ruben Garcia, Jessica Lowrey
- Writers
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Brendan Fehily
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Austin Stowell
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
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Kyle Schmid
Special Agent Mike Franks