NCIS: Origins Loses Showrunner After Season 2 Due to Shocking Offscreen Exit

NCIS: Origins is the latest CBS series to undergo off-screen changes — with the prequel losing a showrunner after two seasons.

Co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal will leave at the end of the current season, according to the show TVLine And Term. David J. North will remain and will serve as sole showrunner from now on.

“Gina has been an important, beloved member of the ‘NCIS’ family for years,” said CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach and CBS Studios President David Stapf said in a joint statement on Wednesday, January 28. “We are incredibly grateful to her for helping launch and direct NCIS: Origins, and bringing these incredible characters and stories to life. We look forward to working with her again on new projects in the future, and know that the creative foundation she helped build will continue to thrive.”

Monreal released her own statement about the surprise exit. “It has been the greatest honor of my career to write NCIS: Origin with my incredible co-showrunner and friend David North,” she wrote. “I want to thank Amy Reisenbach, David Stapf and everyone at CBS Network and Studio for their support.”

She continued, “To have this opportunity to once again work with the incomparable Mark Harmon, Sean Harmon, our writers and the best cast and crew in the business – how lucky am I? I can’t wait to see what this extraordinary group has in store for Season 3.”

NCIS: Originswhich premiered in October 2024, follows a young Gibbs – a role originated by Mark Harmon – years prior to the events of NCIS. The new series picks up less than a year after Gibbs’ wife and daughter were murdered. During Season 1, Gibbs started a new job as a special agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office while still dealing with the aftermath of the loss of his family.

Harmon, 74, made his NCIS debuted as Gibbs in 2003 and played the lead role for 18 years. His last appearance aired in late 2021, and Harmon has not returned to the flagship show since. However, he did sign on as narrator for the prequel series and served as executive producer of the project along with his eldest son, Sean Harmon.

“It’s a big job to recreate Gibbs and go back and tell this story while being respectful to the fans and the storyline of the original show,” Stowell, 41, told exclusively We weekly in November 2024 before Harmon filmed present-day scenes for Season 2. “We want to do our best work as actors, as performers, as writers and storytellers. Even though there can be a lot of pressure, Mark Harmon makes us feel so comfortable and makes us feel justified in our decisions.”

The actor revealed that it didn’t take long for Harmon to share his thoughts on Stowell’s performance.

“He gave it to me right in the room,” Stowell joked. “He was vocal about it – maybe not what he had to do – but definitely [he was] to guide me more in terms of attitude and mentality, things that I have learned to live with even more over time.”

However, Harmon “never” gave Stowell any notes on his acting. “He leads by example. He’s a man who taught me a lot more about being human than I did about being Gibbs,” Stowell continued. “He’s been so welcoming – not just to me and not just to the rest of the cast, but to the entire crew. He’s really such a great leader for us because he makes everyone feel so comfortable.”

For NCIS: Origins back for season 2 late last year, Monreal and North teased their approach to the prequel.

“That was really our ultimate goal from the beginning: to make a show that the fans of the original show loved and were satisfied with. But [it is] Also [a show] that new viewers can come in from the beginning of NCIS: Origins,” Monreal explained exclusively Us in April 2025. “Viewers can jump in and not be confused and really get on board with our characters and their stories. We’ve always approached it from that perspective. I feel like we’ve succeeded.”

She continued: “We really want to stick to the canon [events]. We are strict about this. We want to show respect to the mother ship. We both wrote on the Mothership and love that show. But we also enjoy exploring our new characters and delving into their emotional lives.

NCIS: Origins returns to CBS on Tuesday, February 24 at 9:00 PM ET.