Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “Feelin' Alright?” are ahead!
Last November, it was announced that NCIS: Origins would introduce the younger version of Dwayne Pride, previously played by Scott Bakula for the entirety of NCIS: New Orleans. Only Murders in the Building’s Shea Buckner was subsequently cast in the role, and tonight we saw the first official meeting of Pride and Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the 2026 TV schedule. CinemaBlend spoke with Austin Stowell, who plays Gibbs on Origins, ahead of “Feelin' Alright?” airing, and he explained to us why he didn’t turn to OG footage of Bakula and Mark Harmon together in order to prepare for this episode.
Back in 2014, the NCIS Season 11 two-parter “Crescent City” served as NCIS: New Orleans’ backdoor pilot, and we learned that Gibbs and Pride had been close friends for a long time. “Feelin’ Alright?” showed the birth of that friendship. Things got off to a rocky start, however, but more on that soon. At the start of my interview with Austin Stowell, I asked him whether he studied previous episodes where Mark Harmon and Scott Bakula were sharing screen time (you can stream those with a Paramount+ subscription), and he responded:
Yeah, so I didn't because it's tough to play future for the past, right?… So when that's the first time [Gibbs has] ever seen this person walking out of that bathroom, [Pride’s] just a piano player from New Orleans. And it's not like him pulling rank would make Gibbs feel any different. Gibbs is, at the time, an active Marine and has commanding officers. He's surrounded by COs. So for some random piano player to flash a badge, and it's not like, oh, he commands my respect right away… So I didn't go and study what was the future.
Technically Gibbs and Pride teaming up in this NCIS: Origins episode was their second meeting, as “Feelin' Alright?” revealed that in 1981, they crossed paths in Louisiana under less than ideal circumstances. Gibbs was at a bar to honor his late mother with his father Jackson, and they got into a disagreement with Pride, a sheriff’s deputy in New Orleans, that saw Pride punching Jackson, and then he and Gibbs being tossed out of the bar.11 years later, Pride, now an NIS agent from the Panama office, stopped by the Origins stomping grounds with his boss, Dan McClane, to help investigate a smuggling ring tied to the murder Mike Franks’ team was investigating.
It makes sense that Austin Stowell decided not to watch Mark Harmon’s Gibbs and Scott Bakula’s Pride on NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans ahead of time, because the younger versions of those characters did not have camaraderie with each other for the majority of this episode. Austin Stowell continued in his assessment of what Leroy Jethro Gibbs thinks of Pride and McClane when they come to the NIS Pendleton office:
I know what Gibbs is in this scenario, that he's loyal and protective. And that isn't just in the flashback, that's also when the guys show up. He considers these guys to be subpar because Pride's actions of the past speak to who he is now and he seems to be very much on that same path, that he hasn't changed all that much. He’s speaking to people in a way that is much too casual for the workplace, more what Gibbs would see as disrespectful.
That perception faded away by the end of “Feelin’ Alright?” after Gibbs and Pride went undercover and busted up the smuggling ring. They’re not exactly the best of friends at this point, but at least there’s respect between the two men now. Additionally, this NCIS: Origins episode also saw Special Agent Felix Betts being brought in to investigate the financial clues in this smuggling ring case. Once it was solved, him, Gibbs, Pride, McClane and Franks were dubbed the Fed Five for the press, although Vera Strickland really deserved Betts’ spot since he barely did anything and she came up with the inter-office coordination idea.
We know the Fed Five will reform in 1994 to hunt down the Privileged Killer, so depending on how long NCIS: Origins goes, it’s guaranteed we’ll see Dwayne Pride, Dan McClane and Felix Betts again. For now, there’s still plenty left in Season 2 to get through. So continue following along with new episodes Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, and check back with CinemaBlend for more content from my interview with Austin Stowell.
