The NCIS universe has spent the past year pulling its old faces back into the fold, from Mark Harmon’s expanded return as Gibbs to LL Cool J’s New York-set spinoff. So the news that another long-serving franchise favorite is coming home should feel familiar by now, though this particular homecoming arrives with a twist that will catch out the fans who have spent three years hoping for it.
The actor in question logged well over a decade inside the franchise and became one of its most beloved leads before his show wrapped in 2023. His return has been rumored, wished for, and gently downplayed in interview after interview ever since. What has finally brought him back, though, isn’t a badge or a callback to an old character, but a seat in the producer’s chair.
Eric Christian Olsen, who played fan-favorite detective Marty Deeks across all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles, is joining NCIS: Origins as an executive producer on the prequel’s third season, per Deadline, working under his Cloud Nine Productions banner rather than stepping back in front of the camera as Deeks.
He slots into a reshaped producing team at a moment of real change for the show. Olsen joins original executive producer David J. North, who takes over as sole showrunner for season 3, alongside Mark Harmon, his son Sean Harmon, and Michele Greco, newly promoted from co-executive producer.
Olsen has never really left CBS Studios, where he has worked since being cast in NCIS: Los Angeles 17 years ago and where he has held a first-look deal since 2018. Since the LA spinoff ended in May 2023, he has turned that deal into producing, most visibly as an executive producer on the Kathy Bates legal drama Matlock. When he made the pivot, Olsen said he wanted to “find stories that I was really passionate about” and build them from the ground up.
Olsen is arriving at a pivotal juncture for the prequel. Harmon, who has narrated Origins since its 2024 debut, is stepping into all 10 episodes of season 3 as part of a present-day mystery tied to Gibbs’ early Camp Pendleton days. The season will also see the show dropping to a 10-episode order and moving to a new Tuesday 10 PM slot on CBS this fall, with streaming on Paramount+.
Origins has little connection to Deeks or the old LA team, and on paper, Olsen would slot more naturally into LL Cool J’s NCIS: New York, where his former costar’s Sam Hanna is setting up shop, so this fit is slightly curious. For now, Olsen has been firm that he has no plans to play Deeks again. Whether a producing credit shifts that math is the question fans are now wondering about.
- Release Date
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October 14, 2024
- Network
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CBS
- 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
