Mark Harmon accepted NCIS role because of this funny detail

Mark Harmon may have left NCIS, but the TV star still have some fun stories to share from his time on the legendary series. Harmon is currently promoting his new book, Ghosts of Honolulu, and he spoke to FOX about the bizarre circumstances that led to him being cast as Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and spearheading the franchise for nearly two decades.

Harmon had established himself as a film star throughout the 1980s and 90s, and was reluctant to jump onto a television series by the time the offer for NCIS came through. He likely would have passed on the offer, were it not for one crucial, retroactively funny detail: the character’s name.

“I was reading a lot of scripts, and I read this one, and the name Leroy Jethro Gibbs hit me”, Harmon told the outlet. “And there was a moment there where in that couple of days I think it changed or something. … And I right away called up and said, ‘The name has got to change back.’ And then someone said, ‘You can’t play a guy named Leroy Jethro Gibbs.’ I said, ‘Why not?’”

The actor said that the NCIS showrunners planned to change the name from Leroy Gibbs to Bob Robinson, which, as we can all agree, is less memorable. He insisted that the name stay the same, and it was actually this conversation regarding the “silliness” of Leroy Jethro Gibbs that led him to come in and audition for the character. “If that name had not been there, I don’t think I would have been there”, he added.

There have been lots interesting tidbits revealed about the Gibbs character in the last few months, largely due to the fact that NCIS celebrated its 20th anniversary in September. The oral history by The Hollywood Reporter revealed that several major stars were considered for Gibbs before it was offered to Harmon, including Alec Baldwin, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Kevin Bacon, Tom Berenger, Val Kilmer, Charlie Sheen, Aidan Quinn, and Patrick Swayze.

Andrew McCarthy and Scott Glenn were reportedly close to locking up a deal, but both ended up passing. The same goes for Harrison Ford, who wouldn’t accept a starring role in a TV series until 2022’s Shrinking. Each of these actors would have been excellent as Gibbs, and several of them were bigger stars than Harmon at the time NCIS was being put together, but in the end, the right man got the job.

Harmon is still an executive producer on NCIS, and has made a point of leaving the door open for a possible return as Gibbs in the future. He assured fans that the character is “not retired” and could be called upon to help the titular organization should he ever be needed.