Austin Stowell's extremely happy about winning the role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in “NCIS: Origins.” He says that since he got the job, it “has just been day after day after day of the greatest day” of his life.

Even the "NCIS" origin story for Austin Stowell has a Cracker Jack opening. The impossibly rugged actor, 39, had tried to clear his mind after his February audition for "NCIS: Origins," the prequel series to the CBS police procedural (premiering Monday,

With the NCIS: Origins prequel, we’re seeing a Leroy Jethro Gibbs ( Austin Stowell) for whom the loss of his wife Shannon and daughter Kelley is still fresh. Over the first three episodes, we’ve gotten flashbacks as well as a heartbreaking sequence of Gibbs and Shannon in his truck talking about the rules.

Austin Stowell won the coveted role of young Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS: Origins. Stowell portrays the role made famous by Mark Harmon on NCIS, but you may have seen him in some other high profile roles over the years.

I truly am Gibbs at this point.” Austin Stowell arrives at this conclusion 90 minutes into an emotional conversation about taking on the leading role in “NCIS: Origins,”

NCIS: Origins dives into a dark part of Gibbs’ ( Austin Stowell) past, when he learned of his wife and daughter’s murders while overseas in Kuwait in flashbacks.

Mark Harmon says there was “heavy competition” for the role he first created on 'NCIS' — until Austin Stowell walked into the audition room

Origins episode “All’s Not Lost” are ahead! Throughout the course of Mark Harmon’s nearly-two-decade run on NCIS, viewers learned quite a bit about his character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, including how his first wife,

But sharp-minded viewers will remember that "NCIS" gave us a peek at this moment already. During "Hiatus, Part 1," Gibbs is also seen learning the same news, and there are a large number of differences between what happens in "NCIS" and "All's Not Lost.