Mark Harmon’s upcoming movie role is a necessary career step away from NCIS central character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, whom he played for nearly two decades in over 400 episodes. Harmon’s lengthy effort stretches back to when he, a few other original NCIS characters, and the concept of the military police procedural were introduced in the legal drama JAG. What started as a two-part backdoor pilot (JAG season 8, episodes 20 and 21) burgeoned into a popular, long-running TV series that’s still being made today and inspired the creation of four NCIS spinoff series and an upcoming NCIS prequel series.

In the role of Gibbs, the honorable supervisory special agent in command of a DC-based NCIS team, Harmon was the face of NCIS until around season 19. After 18 seasons and a limited appearance in the 19th, Harmon decided to move on from NCIS, but it did little to break the inextricable link between the actor and the franchise. Harmon’s widely-revered performance and longevity in the original series made it hard to see him as more than Supervisory Special Agent Gibbs. Yet, Harmon boasts an extensive and layered acting career that his new movie role will remind everybody of.

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The cast of NCIS season 20 walks forward above show title in promotional poster

NCIS

Crime
Drama

Where to Watch

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NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. Special Agent Alden Parker, a quirky former FBI agent who solves his cases with calm professionalism and sharp, sarcastic charm, leads the NCIS team, which includes NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an MIT graduate with a knack for computers who has now graduated to senior field agent; the charismatic, unpredictable and resilient NCIS Special Agent Nicholas “Nick” Torres, who has spent most of his career on solo undercover assignments; and sharp, athletic and tough NCIS Special Agent Jessica Knight, a formidable REACT agent who specializes in hostage negotiations and high-risk operations. The naïve Jimmy Palmer is assisting the team, who graduated from assistant to fully licensed medical examiner and now runs the morgue; and forensic scientist Kasie Hines, Ducky’s former graduate assistant. Overseeing operations is NCIS Director Leon Vance, an intelligent, highly trained agent who can always be counted on to shake up the status quo. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.

Cast

sean murray
, Wilmer Valderrama
, Katrina Law
, Brian Dietzen
, david mccallum
, Mark Harmon
, Rocky Carroll
, Gary Cole
, Joe Spano

Release Date

September 23, 2003

Seasons

22

Network

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+

Franchise(s)

NCIS

Writers

Donald P. Bellisario

Showrunner

Donald P. Bellisario

Main Genre

Crime

Creator(s)

Donald P. Bellisario
, Don McGill

Where To Watch

Paramount+

Returning As Ryan In Freaky Friday 2 Is A Change Of Pace After Mark Harmon’s NCIS Run

Harmon Is Returning To Family Comedy After A Long Military Police Procedural Stint

Harmon hasn’t been active since leaving NCIS, but he’ll soon be back on-screen, albeit on the big screen, for the forthcoming Freaky Friday sequel. 20-plus years after Walt Disney Pictures’ 2003 Freaky Friday adaptation, the cult classic body-swap movie is finally getting a new installment, and much to fans’ delight, original stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan will return as the mother/daughter duo, Tess and Anna Coleman. Other original Freaky Friday cast members are slated to return, including Harmon in a role that’s a big change of pace from Special Agent Gibbs.

Harmon will reprise his Freaky Friday role as Ryan Volvo, Tess’ fiancé, who later becomes her husband and stepfather to the Coleman children. Harmon’s return for Freaky Friday means that the actor will likely be navigating light and fluffy family drama over the more intense crime-handling sequences of NCIS, in a refreshing reminder of his full breadth of talent. Aside from Ryan being Harmon’s first major role since NCIS, he’s also fiercely different from Gibbs, and ultimately, the Freaky Friday character will help to rework the general perspective of the actor’s enmeshment with the NCIS franchise.

Freaky Friday 2 Temp Logo Poster

Freaky Friday 2

Not Yet Rated
Comedy

Freaky Friday 2 is the sequel to the 2003 Disney comedy film that starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as a mother and daughter who accidentally swapped bodies. No concrete details on the film exist other than the desire of Curtis and Lohan to return, with the script being written by Elyse Hollander.

Distributor(s)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Writers

Elyse Hollander

Cast

Jamie Lee Curtis
, Lindsay Lohan

Franchise(s)

Freaky Friday

prequel(s)

Freaky Friday (1976)

Freaky Friday 2 Will Remind Everyone That Harmon’s Career Was Always More Than NCIS

Harmon Acted In Movies And TV Series Dating Back To 1973 Before NCIS

Mark Harmon's Gibbs wearing NCIS hat in NCIS

Even more than disrupting Harmon’s link to the NCIS franchise, the actor’s Freaky Friday role will remind audiences of the variety of film and TV characters he played before Gibbs. Harmon has acting credits dating back to 1973 when he featured in a single episode appearance in the sitcom Ozzie’s Girls as Mark Johnson. Consequently, he forged an extensive television career, from short roles in series such as Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, and The West Wing to longer-term roles in St. Elsewhere as Dr. Robert Caldwell, Reasonable Doubt as Detective Dicky Cobbs, and Chicago Hope as Dr. Jack McNeil.

Harmon wasn’t a stranger to film either and has appeared in or led the cast of Chasing Liberty, Summer School, Local Boys, and The Last Supper, among others. His career spans across genres as well, showing that he’s just as adept at comedies or romances as he is at the military procedural format. Mark Harmon’s contribution to NCIS will always be iconic, that’s a given, but it’s important to remember that his acting career is so much more than Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.