Stowell also reveals how he's honoring longtime NCIS fans with his take on the beloved character
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00:00Now it's the sit down with Austin Stowe.
00:02Hi, Austin.
00:03We're just days away from the premiere of NCIS Origins.
00:07Mark Harmon made this role iconic.
00:09He's also involved in the prequel
00:11and helped cast you as young Gibbs.
00:13How did that feel,
00:14knowing that he specifically thought you were right for it?
00:18It is, it's a tremendous honor.
00:20I knew that I had something that I could bring to the role
00:24and I knew I had something inside me
00:26that felt very Gibbs-esque.
00:27And so to be tapped to play the guy
00:31is absolutely a confidence booster.
00:36It's something that I take a lot of pride in.
00:41What did you focus on
00:42to get the essence of Leroy Jethro Gibbs?
00:45Are there expressions or gestures
00:46that you've adopted from Mark?
00:48I watched quite a bit of Mark's best episodes
00:53when I first got the audition.
00:55It was important to me to find out
00:59what the fans thought were his best episodes.
01:02And I went back and I watched those.
01:04And there are what I like to call Gibbisms.
01:10There are certain things that Mark does
01:13and they are different to his other characters
01:15that he's portrayed.
01:17And so I wanted to embody as much of that as I could
01:22and decide, okay, if this is day one with Gibbs,
01:27how many of these behaviors are innate to him
01:30and how many of them get learned over time?
01:33And so that was fun.
01:35Watch your step, Marine.
01:36You're on my squad?
01:36Nope, you're on mine.
01:38Joining such a beloved, longstanding franchise
01:40has to be a little overwhelming.
01:42I mean, fans have loved the show
01:43and the character for over 20 years.
01:45Did Mark give you any advice on navigating that?
01:48Well, you know, Mark has never been,
01:52hey, here's a piece of advice that I wanna give to you.
01:56He has been available at all times.
02:00He's always a phone call away
02:02if he's not here on set with us.
02:04He always starts off his conversations
02:07with, do you need anything?
02:09That is so disarming, the guy as a global superstar.
02:14He could make it very uncomfortable
02:15for people to be around him.
02:18Certainly, I mean, for me,
02:20a guy who is stepping into the shoes of the character
02:22that he created and has become beloved,
02:27and for everybody else that's around here.
02:29And that goes for the crew.
02:30He treats everyone with such respect
02:32and the first two words out of his mouth all the time are,
02:35do you need anything?
02:36As fans ourselves,
02:37we wanna get to know our new Gibbs a little better.
02:40Ready for some rapid fire questions?
02:42Sure.
02:43You're an outdoorsy guy.
02:44What's your favorite hike you've ever done?
02:46Ned LeMond in New Zealand
02:48was one of the greatest days of my life.
02:50You once posted an epic 90s throwback for Mother's Day.
02:53If you could bring back one trend from the 90s,
02:55what would it be?
02:56Oh man, I just get rid of cell phones.
02:59And if we could, I know that's not really a trend.
03:03And I get it, Google Maps and Uber
03:06and all these things are a lot of fun,
03:07but I'm a believer that the world
03:10would be a little bit of a better place
03:12if we didn't have these computers on us all the time.
03:17I mean, shout out to Apple and everybody else
03:19that's doing great things with phones,
03:21but that's just me.
03:24Who's one co-star you'd love to work with again someday
03:26and why?
03:27Okay, because he's not on the show all the time.
03:31I would really love to work with Bobby Moynihan again.
03:34I just got to see him perform at the UCB the other night.
03:38He's, I mean, the guy is a comedic legend.
03:40Everybody knows Bobby Moynihan.
03:43Austin, are you single?
03:44We'll take a yes or a no.
03:45Yes.
03:46Ah.
03:47Yes.
03:48Okay, so what qualities do you look for
03:50in a potential partner?
03:51Kindness to strangers is very important to me.
03:54I think the way that someone treats someone on the street,
03:57you can really learn a lot about them in those moments.
04:00But at the moment, I'm in a relationship with a TV show.
04:04I am here Monday through Friday.
04:07This is, I'm in a relationship with,
04:10remember those 300 people that I was telling you about?
04:12They are all my boyfriends and girlfriends.
04:15Finally, I'm going to put 10 seconds on the clock.
04:17Tell everyone why they should check out NCIS Origins.
04:20Ready?
04:20Go.
04:21NCIS Origins is going to be on at nine o'clock on CBS
04:26and streaming on Paramount+.
04:28We hope you are really going to love it
04:30because we sure are proud of it.
04:33Austin, thank you so much for joining us today.
04:36Really, really appreciate it.