Spoiler alert! This story contains details from the Season 2 premiere of NCIS: Origins on CBS.
THE NCIS the prequel left viewers in limbo last spring when it put Mariel Molino’s Lala in serious danger. After she and Austin Stowell’s Gibbs nearly locked lips during the Adult Swim special version of the series, Lala was seriously injured in a car accident while swerving to avoid a child.
David, the showrunner. J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal certainly fueled speculation that Lala was gone for good after telling Deadline in April: “I think everyone has had those experiences where you wake up one morning, life goes on and all of a sudden something unthinkable happens. North even added, “She didn’t look very good at the end. She looked in bad shape.”
Good news for viewers: Lala lives! Here, North and Monreal reveal that they never wanted to eliminate Lala and explain how her return to the NIS only serves to torture Gibbs (that is, more than he already is).
DEADLINE Sneaky! I really thought Lala was really done for.
DAVID J. NORD That’s a good thing, right?
DEADLINE Of course. How long have you been planning this?
Gina Lucita Montreal Quite early. We knew what we were going to do with the season finale and we knew for sure that it was coming back.
NORTH What we didn’t know was that 95% of viewers would actually think she was dead. That’s what surprised us when we came back here and we left off season two. I would come down and walk around our sets on the Paramount lot. They tour through the sets. We weren’t filming, and there was a group walking by and I told them who I was, and I said, “Are you guys watching the show?” And this guy from Australia said, yeah. And he said, “I think Lala is dead, and I think you made a huge mistake.”
I mean, that’s what the response was.
DEADLINE Gibbs got busy pretty quickly with Diane (Kathleen Kenny). He obviously denies his feelings with Lala. For what?
MONREAL He is afraid of losing her. I mean, he lost the love of his life in Shannon. Now he has unique and strong feelings for Lala. She almost died and he backed away. All of this is going to be explored this season. We are not going to stop there.
DEADLINE Will we see a wedding this year between Gibbs and Diane? Will they act quickly?
NORTH We plan to stick to canon, so obviously at some point we know that Gibbs will get married on Origins. We play a little with time. If you pay attention, you will see that there is not a week between each case. We’ve slowed down time, so you’ll just have to stay tuned to see what happens.
DEADLINE You really had a lot of fun with the premiere, so let’s break it down. You went in depth with Marky Mark.
MONREAL I wanted to juxtapose the two versions of Good Vibrations at the beginning and the end, just to show the growth of the team and how they come together. They embrace that sunnier side of teamwork that is so ingrained in the character of Randy (played by Caleb Foote). And for me, this Good vibes version of Marky Mark is so Randy. Having him share some of his sunshine with the team on their return together was pretty much the goal. I think our actors really delivered on that moment in the car.
DEADLINE You’ve incorporated these shoes that light up!
MONREAL Someone in the writers’ room brought this up. It was so ’90s. We like the idea of introducing these ’90s elements that coincide really well with the way we do our investigative work without computers and all that kind of stuff.
DEADLINE When will we meet Frank’s brother, played by Philip Winchester?
NORTH As the season begins, we’ll meet him in a very meaningful and powerful way. This will affect Frank forever.
DEADLINE Will we still hear Mark Harmon’s voice every week?
NORTH Yeah. Mark plays a major role in what we do and is a big supporter and partner in it all. Gina and I were with him yesterday, talking about the show, life, and everything else. You can expect Mark to be very present in this area. He is incredibly proud of what we do here.
DEADLINE Can you consider doing another cliffhanger for the end of season 2?
NORTH Yeah, I mean, we know what the end of the season is going to be. This will definitely be a cliffhanger.
