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NCIS: Origins Cast & Episode Guide
Latest New Episode: Baila Esta Cumbia · S3 E5 — 10 November 2026
Next New Episode: Shot Through the Heart · S3 E6 — 17 November 2026 on CBS
Latest NCIS: Origins Episode
Baila Esta Cumbia · S3 E5
NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 5, “Baila Esta Cumbia,” moves between two investigations separated by decades. In 1993, the team examines the murder of a con woman, a case that carries personal significance for Lala. The episode also shifts to the present, where Gibbs and Agent Ellie Bishop take part in an intense interrogation. Set against the early years of Gibbs’s federal career at the fledgling NCIS office at Camp Pendleton, the story links the series’ period investigation with a later encounter involving its central former agent.
A Murder Investigation With Personal Stakes
The 1993 storyline focuses on the team’s response to the killing of a con woman and its impact on Lala. That personal connection gives the case a more immediate dimension than a routine investigation, while keeping the episode rooted in the young NCIS office and its early federal-law-enforcement setting.
Gibbs and Bishop in the Present
The present-day thread centers on Gibbs and Bishop as they work through an intense interrogation. Emily Wickersham returns as Agent Ellie Bishop, placing a later-career version of Gibbs alongside a character from the wider NCIS timeline while the episode alternates between its two time periods.
NCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 5 Guest Cast
- Bobby Moynihan as Woodrow "Woody" Browne
- Patrick Fischler as SAC Cliff Wheeler
- Ely Henry as Philip Elertson
- Marisa Baram as Gail Price
- Lori Petty as Dr. Lenora Friedman
- Kayla Maisonet as Nadia
- Michael A. Shepperd as Smitty
- Emily Wickersham as Agent Ellie Bishop
Upcoming NCIS: Origins Episodes
Shot Through the Heart · S3 E6
NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 6, “Shot Through the Heart,” connects two stages of Gibbs’s life through an unresolved question about Lala. In the present, Gibbs searches for answers about what happened to her years earlier. The story also returns to 1993, when an unexpected bond develops between Franks and Lala as the team works to identify a mole. Their investigation becomes more urgent after FBI Agent Casey Bloom is shot, bringing the personal and professional strands of the episode into the same case.
Set against the developing NCIS office at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the 1993 storyline places Franks and Lala inside a race to expose an infiltrator. The search for the mole is complicated by the shooting of Casey Bloom, while the connection forming between Franks and Lala gives the investigation a more personal dimension. Alongside that case, Gibbs’s present-day search supplies the episode’s central link between past events and the questions that still follow him.
About NCIS: Origins
NCIS: Origins is a CBS crime drama and prequel to NCIS that follows Leroy Jethro Gibbs at the beginning of his career as a special agent. Set in 1991 at the developing NCIS office at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the series depicts Gibbs joining a demanding, unconventional team while establishing the professional instincts and relationships that shape his later career.
Main and Recurring Cast
Austin Stowell plays the younger Gibbs, portraying an investigator still defining his methods and place within the agency. Kyle Schmid plays Mike Franks, the experienced NCIS legend who leads the Camp Pendleton team and serves as an important professional influence on Gibbs. The ensemble also includes Mariel Molino as Special Agent Lala Dominguez, Robert Taylor as Gibbs’s father, Jackson, and Diany Rodriguez as Special Agent Vera Strickland. Mark Harmon, who originated the role of Gibbs in NCIS, provides the framing voice for the series and is involved as an executive producer.
How the Series Works
The series combines military-crime investigations with an origin story about the formation of a recognizable NCIS working culture. Its cases place the young agents amid the Marine community around Camp Pendleton, while the continuing drama follows the team’s evolving loyalties, rivalries, and investigative partnership. Rather than presenting Gibbs as an already established authority, NCIS: Origins uses his early assignments to show how mentorship from Franks and collaboration with the fledgling office contribute to the agent audiences later know.
Series Cast & Characters
- Austin Stowell — Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
- Mariel Molino — Special Agent Cecilia "Lala" Dominguez
- Kyle Schmid — Supervisory Special Agent Mike Franks
- Tyla Abercrumbie — Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Hayes
- Caleb Foote — Special Agent Bernard "Randy" Randolf
- Mark Harmon — Older Leroy Jethro Gibbs
- Diany Rodriguez — Special Agent Vera Strickland
NCIS: Origins — Frequently Asked Questions
How Is NCIS: Origins Connected to NCIS?
NCIS: Origins is a prequel centered on Leroy Jethro Gibbs before the events of NCIS. It explores his early work as an NCIS special agent and his time with Mike Franks’s team at Camp Pendleton.
NCIS: Origins Episode Archive
1 previously aired episode in the archive.
Showing 1 of 1 new episode.
Baila Esta Cumbia
NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 5, “Baila Esta Cumbia,” moves between two investigations separated by decades. In 1993, the team examines the murder of a con woman, a case that carries personal significance for Lala.
Guest Cast (8)
- Bobby Moynihan as Woodrow "Woody" Browne
- Patrick Fischler as SAC Cliff Wheeler
- Ely Henry as Philip Elertson
- Marisa Baram as Gail Price
- Lori Petty as Dr. Lenora Friedman
- Kayla Maisonet as Nadia
- Michael A. Shepperd as Smitty
- Emily Wickersham as Agent Ellie Bishop