CBS STUDIO HEADS SAY MARK HARMON COULD REJOIN NCIS: ‘DOOR…IS ALWAYS OPEN’
CBS Studios President David Stapf and CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach recently spoke with Deadline about NCIS, its spinoffs and whether Mark Harmon will ever return to the series.The franchise, which will air its 1,000th episode on April 15, has many upcoming projects.
“The master plan started a long time ago,” Stapf said when asked about NCIS’ expansions from the original show. “We had NCIS. It certainly worked well enough to spawn a spinoff, LA, which also worked really well, that was on for 14 seasons, I think that show doesn’t get the credit it deserves as expanding the franchise but also deepening the love of the franchise for viewers.”
He continued, “We knew and always wanted to expand it, but when you’re dealing with a franchise, you don’t want to oversaturate the market, you don’t want to dilute the value of each individual show. So it really comes down to somebody coming in with an idea for a show that could stand on its own and could be part of the franchise but is completely unique from any of the others.”
The most recent spinoff announced will see the return of Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo as Tony and Ziva.
“The new series picks up after Tony and Ziva were reunited in Paris (off-screen) following the revelation she was alive and she completed one final mission with NCIS,” TV Insider reported. “‘Since then, Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter, Tali, together,’ according to the official description. ‘When Tony’s security company is attacked, they must go on the run across Europe, try to figure out who is after them and maybe even learn to trust each other again so that they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after.’”
When asked about the future of NCIS: HAWAII, Reisenbach shared that nothing has been decided yet, but NCIS: SYDNEY has been picked up for a new season.
They also revealed that Mark Harmon could rejoin the cast someday if he wanted.
“The door for Mark is always open, it’s really up to him,” Reisenbach said.
While the franchise is approaching its 1,000th episode, it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
“For me, I attribute it to the fact that there’s always been a core feeling that the people who wrote the show, the people who produced it, the crew and the actors, no matter whether they were there from the beginning or not, they understand the DNA of the show, and they’ve always stayed true to that,” Reisenbach explained.
While Harmon hasn’t returned to the NCIS universe as a cast member, he’s taking on the role of producer for the spinoff series NCIS: ORIGINS.
“ORIGINS begins in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS, and chronicles Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ younger years. In the prequel, Gibbs ([Austin] Stowell) starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks ([Kyle] Schmid) ,” a summary reads.
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