Actress Emily Wickersham is bringing Ellie Bishop back to Gibbs’ side, joining NCIS: ORIGINS for multiple Season 3 episodes beginning Oct. 27.
“DiNozzo will only be in this episode, but we have lots of incredible surprises in store,” showrunner and executive producer David J. North teased in a Deadline interview ahead of Gibbs-DiNozzo reunion, before the outlet reported Wickersham’s return.
Now another familiar face is joining the story. Deadline reported that Bishop will make her first appearance on the prequel in the Oct. 27 episode, “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” with additional appearances to follow.
Wickersham played Bishop for eight seasons on NCIS before leaving in 2021. She returned to the original series for a guest appearance in March, but this visit brings the character into a different corner of the franchise.
There is a practical reason for the reunion, too. Bishop will help actor Mark Harmon’s present-day Leroy Jethro Gibbs investigate the unknown assailants who tried to kill him, with actor Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo enlisting her assistance.
That distinction matters for anyone wondering how Bishop fits into a prequel set decades before she joined Gibbs’ team. Her story belongs to the current-day mystery, not the younger Gibbs’ early career.
CBS’ Season 3 overview describes two connected tracks: actor Austin Stowell plays the younger Gibbs in the early 1990s, while Harmon appears throughout the season in a present-day investigation tied to those Camp Pendleton years. The show has made its older narrator part of the action.
The Oct. 27 episode will continue both timelines. According to CBS’ episode announcement, the 1993 team intervenes when a dangerous former gang member targets a general’s rebellious teenage son.
In the present, Gibbs returns to a place full of memories and finds he is not alone as Bishop joins that part of the story.
The bigger investigation already gives Gibbs a reason to reach beyond his usual resources. North explained that a reconstructed fingerprint led to a person whose profile sits behind bureaucratic barriers, making DiNozzo’s access as the new NCIS director particularly useful.
Bishop’s arrival extends that chain of help without turning Weatherly’s appearance into a season-long commitment.
For longtime viewers, the draw is more than another familiar name in the credits. The setup lets Gibbs turn to people he once worked alongside while the younger team handles its own dangerous assignment, bringing old relationships into a new mystery.
This remains a crime drama, not a family-viewing recommendation for unscreened episodes. The announced story includes an attempted killing and a threat against a teenager, details parents can weigh before deciding whether to watch together.
Screenwriter Steven Paul Martinez wrote the Oct. 27 episode, and director Patrick Cady directed it, CBS confirmed. The network’s announcement keeps the present-day encounter brief, while the separate casting report supplies the welcome news about who will walk back into Gibbs’ life.
NCIS: ORIGINS airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Paramount+ Premium subscribers can watch through their local CBS live feed, while Essential subscribers can watch on demand the following day.