
Cruise rubbed shoulders with series stars including Austin Stowell, Tyla Abercrumbie and Caleb Foote during a recent trip to the Paramount lot
Tom Cruise made sure to give a few pointers to the NCIS: Origins crew while he was in the neighborhood this week.
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, CBS revealed that the Top Gun: Maverick actor made a surprise appearance on the set of the police procedural spinoff while visiting the Paramount lot in Hollywood — and he came with some advice.
In a photo shared by the network on Instagram, the 63-year-old actor could be seen arm-in-arm with stars Austin Stowell, Tyla Abercrumbie, Caleb Foote and more as they smiled together on set.
“A VIP on set!,” CBS and the official Instagram page for Origins captioned the snaps.
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In his own recounting of events on the platform, co-showrunner David J. North revealed in a Thursday, Oct. 16 caption that it was “awesome” to have Cruise swing by, adding that he showed “much support to our show and the entire [NCIS] universe.” North also revealed that he and co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal actually “took inspo from the bar in Top Gun” when they created the Origins bar, Daly’s.
He wrote, “So we were stoked he approved lol. Thanks for all the advice and the love, Tom.”
North shared a few other snaps and clips from their meetup with Cruise, including a video of Foote, 31, reenacting a scene for him. Stowell, 40, also teased the moment on his Instagram Stories, writing the caption “Gibbs & Hunt, NCIS: Impossible.”
Cruise is no stranger to surprise appearances, having previously stepped out for a Top Gun orchestral show back in 2024 and taking Mission Impossible fans by surprise by appearing at various theaters in 2023.
NCIS: Origins, a prequel to the original series, was officially renewed by CBS for another season in February 2025. It takes place in 1991 and tells the story of Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ professional and personal life as he begins a career with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Stowell previously told PEOPLE that leading the show as a younger version of Mark Harmon’s character was “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“I knew I had something that I could bring to the character that was very real, that was palpable,” he said in October 2024. “But I also knew that I was stepping into a character that was creative, created and filled out and beloved by this guy for 20 years. And I wanted to pay homage to his acting talent. So I wasn’t doing an impression, but I was trying to encapsulate who I thought Mark was. And I do that every day now. He leads by example. We’re all here because of him.”