NCIS has been a fixture of American television for more than two decades — a spinoff that outlasted its parent show, a procedural that became the world’s most-watched drama and a franchise that keeps multiplying. During a 2005 visit to the real NCIS offices, forensic lab director Dawn Sorenson told actress Pauley Perrette, “You make us all look good, so we’re grateful.”
Movieguide® has followed the franchise for years, once calling an NCIS episode “one of the most moving NCIS episodes in its 17-year history.” Here are 13 things worth knowing.
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- It launched inside another show. NCIS debuted through a two-part JAG episode — “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown” — that aired April 22 and 29, 2003. CBS picked up the series, which premiered four months later on Sept. 23, 2003.
- CBS nearly buried it under an extra word. Worried the show would be overshadowed by CSI, the network called it NAVY NCIS for the first season. Creator Donald P. Bellisario eventually persuaded them to drop the redundancy, and the cleaner title stuck.
- The creator knew the world from the inside. Bellisario served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1955 to 1959, reaching the rank of Sergeant. That firsthand military experience runs through the DNA of the series.
- Don Johnson said no to Gibbs. The role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs was offered to Don Johnson, who turned it down. The character was reportedly written with Harrison Ford in mind — which explains the granite stoicism.
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- Scott Bakula was in the mix — and came back anyway. Bellisario considered Scott Bakula for the role of Gibbs. Eleven years later, Bakula landed in the NCIS universe as the lead of NCIS: New Orleans.
- Abby was supposed to become an FBI agent. Pauley Perrette studied criminal science in college and planned to join the FBI before acting redirected her. Her character Abby Sciuto has since inspired a real-world wave of young women into STEM careers — the kind of cultural impact most shows never achieve.
- Mark Harmon’s son played young Gibbs. Every flashback featuring a younger Leroy Jethro Gibbs starred Sean Harmon — Mark Harmon’s real-life son. The casting was a piece of family tradition hiding in plain sight.
- Gibbs’s tools were Harmon’s own. The hand tools Mark Harmon used on set while Gibbs worked on his famous basement boat were mostly his personal tools, not props.
- At its peak, the whole world was watching. NCIS held the title of the world’s most-watched drama for multiple consecutive years, drawing more than 57 million viewers worldwide at its height. Few American dramas have ever managed that kind of global reach.
- Harmon left after 18 years. Mark Harmon departed four episodes into Season 19, in the episode “Great Wide Open.” Gibbs settled in Alaska, citing a peace he hadn’t felt since losing his wife and daughter. Harmon later returned as narrator for NCIS: ORIGINS.
- The franchise now has seven spinoffs. NCIS has produced LOS ANGELES, NEW ORLEANS, HAWAI’I, SYDNEY, ORIGINS, TONY & ZIVA and the newly announced NEW YORK — making it one of the most expansive franchises in television history.
- Movieguide® gave it top honors. At the 32nd Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards in 2025, NCIS won the Faith & Freedom Award for Television and Streaming for Season 22, Episode 4, “Sticks & Stones” — recognition that the series has quietly kept integrity, duty, and sacrifice on screen when it matters.
- The recognition kept coming. Season 23, Episode 7, “God Only Knows,” earned a Movieguide® Faith & Freedom Award nomination at the 33rd Annual Movieguide® Awards in 2026. CBS renewed NCIS for a 24th season in January 2026, confirming the franchise still has room left to run.