NCIS: Origins’ Mike Franks Actor Explains His Role In The Upcoming Spinoff

Ahead of NCIS: Origins’ release, Kyle Schmid teases what to expect from his role as young Mike Franks and how he fits into Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ start in the agency. Just two and a half months before NCIS debuts a brand-new show, excitement bubbles over Mark Harmon’s official return to the franchise, as he executive produces and provides the narration for NCIS: Origins. On the screen, the role of young Gibbs has been recast with Austin Stowell. Joining him in the show is Schmid, who takes over the role of Franks, first played by Muse Watson.

In a new interview with TV Insider, Schmid previews how he fits into NCIS: Origins and Gibbs’ early days at NCIS (then-called NIS). He touches on the mentor and mentee dynamic between him and Stowell’s character and hints that Franks is the reason why he stayed in the agency for that long. Schmid says:

He had been part of NCIS for a while. In 2001, when you meet him he is a little older, a little more jaded. He has seen a lot that I think he wished he could have had more control over. So, we’re seeing him at a point in his life where he has paved his own way and earned the respect of the agency. Now he has the opportunity to build a team that he sees as being some of the most promising agents in NCIS. We get to meet those people and see those people grow. He is still at a point where he gets to mentor Gibbs. I think we’ll get to see why Gibbs was who the world fell in love with in the original NCIS and how he came to be that way. And Mike Franks is a big part of that.