{"id":1861,"date":"2025-02-19T17:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T17:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2025-02-19T17:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T17:38:13","slug":"the-correct-order-to-watch-the-ncis-shows-including-the-prequel-series-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1861","title":{"rendered":"The Correct Order To Watch The NCIS Shows (Including The Prequel Series Origins)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do you have roughly 1,000 hours to spare and a passion for stalwart procedural crime dramas? Great news: you can start watching every episode of \u201cNCIS\u201d and its multitude of spinoffs now and be finished with the show sometime before the next decade! Seriously, though, the long-running, incredibly popular series has, by this point, garnered enough spinoffs, prequels, and sequels to help keep the lights on at CBS for a long, long time.<\/p>\n

In the past two years alone, two \u201cNCIS\u201d spin-offs have premiered, one has been greenlit, and another has gone to the big TV graveyard in the sky. It\u2019s a lot to keep track of, but luckily, the show\u2019s chronology is pretty straightforward. With the exception of a new prequel, all seven \u201cNCIS\u201d-adjacent shows take place in the present day in chronological order, although crossover events still make any watch-through complicated. If you are in the market for a marathon binge-watch, you\u2019re going to want to watch the shows in the most logical order: by release date, with special attention to a few special show-hopping storylines. In other words:<\/p>\n

\u201cJAG\u201d (\u201cNCIS\u201d pilot episodes)
\n\u201cNCIS\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: New Orleans\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: Hawai\u2019i\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: Sydney\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: Origins\u201d
\n\u201cNCIS: Tony & Ziva\u201d<\/p>\n

JAG<\/h2>\n

Before CBS built its primetime lineup around the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, another acronym captured audiences attention for seasons on end: \u201cJAG,\u201d also known as the Judge Advocate General. A U.S. Navy-based crime show in its own right, \u201cJAG\u201d aired on NBC in 1995 before moving over to CBS \u2014 home of all future \u201cNCIS\u201d-related properties \u2014 in 1997.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to watch all of \u201cJAG\u201d to enjoy \u201cNCIS,\u201d and plenty of fans don\u2019t even realize the two shows have a connection. But if you think of every subsequent \u201cNCIS\u201d spinoff as a copy of a copy, then \u201cJAG\u201d is the super-legible original left in the printer. Alternately praised for its drama and criticized as right-wing propaganda by critics at outlets like Paste, \u201cJAG\u201d followed uniformed lawyers played by Catherine Bell and David James Elliott, and audiences ate it up (albeit, older audiences: the show\u2019s average viewer was over 55).<\/p>\n

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Before you start panicking about how to make space in your schedule for 227 episodes of an \u201cNCIS\u201d precursor for Baby Boomers, rest assured: only two episodes of \u201cJAG\u201d are directly related to \u201cNCIS.\u201d While a few \u201cJAG\u201d characters pop up in \u201cNCIS\u201d over the years, the two titles\u2019 biggest common ground is in the Season 8 \u201cJAG\u201d two-parter \u201cIce Queen\u201d\/\u201dMeltdown.\u201d The episodes served as a backdoor pilot for \u201cNCIS,\u201d introducing Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo, Abby Scuito, and more. For the full \u201cNCIS\u201d experience, check out the Season 8 \u201cJAG\u201d two-parter before diving into the main series.<\/p>\n

NCIS<\/h2>\n

None of the six shows mentioned below would exist if not for the massive, enduring popularity of the original \u201cNCIS.\u201d The series premiered on CBS in 2003, when American pop culture was going through a period of obsession with post-9\/11 military-set stories. But while the fervor for other shows like \u201c24\u201d eventually died down, \u201cNCIS\u201d only grew in popularity over time. It even battled NFL Sunday Football for television\u2019s top spot in its 10th season,\u00a0per The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

Aside from the two \u201cJAG\u201d episodes that introduced the members of the show\u2019s Naval Criminal Investigative Service, \u201cNCIS\u201d is where you\u2019ll want to start your watch-through. With a whopping 479 episodes and counting, the dramatic procedural should keep you up to your eyeballs in treason cases and suspicious deaths for the foreseeable future. Mark Harmon stars as big boss Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and the actor has served as an executive producer on the show since 2008. Much of the same cast has stuck with the series for well over a decade, though newer seasons have focused more on characters like Gary Cole\u2019s Alden Parker and Wilmer Valderrama\u2019s Nicholas Torres.<\/p>\n

If you notice a moment when whatever magic made \u201cNCIS\u201d work starts to disappear, it\u2019s probably when Pauley Perrette, who played lovable forensics goth Abby, left the show in 2018. She did so after speaking up about an alleged on-set safety incident. Harmon, who was mentioned by name in Perrette\u2019s statements about her exit, also left the show in 2021 to pursue other projects. Lucky for fans, though, there are still plenty of other stories from the world of \u201cNCIS\u201d going strong.<\/p>\n

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NCIS: Los Angeles<\/h2>\n

The first \u201cNCIS\u201d spinoff to hit the airwaves is also often cited as the best. \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d opened up shop on the West coast (the flagship show is set around Washington, D.C.) in 2009, and the series thrived with its own set of characters \u2014 and wild crimes \u2014 until it drew to a close in 2023. \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d often took a slightly lighter approach to its bad guy-hunting storylines, with rapper LL Cool J and \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d alum Chris O\u2019Donnell in the lead roles and sunny, endlessly ridiculous Hollywood as the backdrop to their shenanigans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNCIS: New Orleans\u201d had a few things the other existing \u201cNCIS\u201d shows didn\u2019t, like \u201cThe Shield\u201d alum CCH Pounder playing the team\u2019s medical examiner, as well as a setting that allowed for culturally and geographically unique cases. The show had its share of obstacles to overcome, though, from so-so reviews to the loss of Glasberg in 2016 to sexual harassment allegations made against second showrunner Brad Kern, who was fired in 2018 (per TVLine). The series eventually bowed out in 2023, making it the first \u201cNCIS\u201d show to prove that at least some iteration of the series could end. To watch all of \u201cNCIS: New Orleans,\u201d you\u2019ll also want to keep an eye out for two other \u201cNCIS\u201d crossover episodes in the flagship show\u2019s 13th and 14th seasons.<\/p>\n

NCIS: Hawai\u2019i<\/h2>\n

The shortest-lived show in the \u201cNCIS\u201d franchise, \u201cNCIS: Hawai\u2019i\u201d started in 2021 in what appeared to be an overt attempt to keep the Aloha spirit \u2014 and the viewers who tuned in to see the idyllic island location \u2014 alive on CBS post-\u201cHawaii Five-O.\u201d Based in the Pearl Harbor Field Office, the show never quite reached the highs of, say, the \u201cNCIS\u201d Pearl Harbor episode starring Christopher Lloyd. It stuck around for just three seasons before coming to a close in 2024 (with the network citing low-ish ratings and high production costs as the reasons for \u201cHawai\u2019i\u201d being canceled).<\/p>\n

The series starred \u201cEntertainment Tonight\u201d and \u201cTRL\u201d correspondent Vanessa Lachey, model and actor Noah Mills, and Alex Tarrant, who went on to play Valandil in Prime Video\u2019s \u201cLord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.\u201d Despite its relatively short run (with 54 episodes total, \u201cHawai\u2019i\u201d didn\u2019t reach the typical syndication threshold), the show\u00a0does have a lot of overlap with other \u201cNCIS\u201d series. If you\u2019re watching all the shows in release order (i.e. according to this list), you\u2019ll want to make sure that \u201cHawai\u2019i\u201d syncs up with both \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d and the original \u201cNCIS,\u201d as the three shared a crossover event in 2023.<\/p>\n

NCIS: Sydney<\/h2>\n

After conquering D.C., California, Louisiana, and Hawaii, \u201cNCIS\u201d took the, ahem, natural next step: moving to Australia. Yes, even though \u201cNCIS\u201d revolves around the American military, its next spinoff series after \u201cHawai\u2019i\u201d took place on the other side of the world. \u201cNCIS: Sydney\u201d was crafted specifically for Paramount+ in Australia, but it landed on CBS in America after networks began scrambling to fill lineup time amidst the 2023 WGA and SAG strikes. Unlike some of its predecessors, however, \u201cSydney\u201d is still going strong, with a new season on the way at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because of its international origins, \u201cNCIS: Sydney\u201d has less franchise overlap than most \u201cNCIS\u201d spinoffs, with no crossover episodes to date and a fairly self-contained cast led by Olivia Swann (\u201cDC\u2019s Legends of Tomorrow\u201d), Todd Lasance (\u201cSpartacus\u201d), and Sean Sagar (\u201cOur Girl\u201d). If you\u2019re looking for a change of pace from the typical ra-ra American crime plot, \u201cSydney\u201d does offer something slightly different; it explores a partnership between the American Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Australian Federal Police, cultural misunderstandings and all. Without tie-in episodes to ground it, \u201cNCIS: Sydney\u201d is technically an optional entry for viewing, but it\u2019s also a nice change of pace and a speedy binge-watch.<\/p>\n

NCIS: Origins<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s where things get tricky. While all the above-mentioned \u201cNCIS\u201d shows take place in the present day, \u201cNCIS: Origins\u201d is a prequel series, meaning that chronology purists will want to watch it before any other shows on this list. I think that would be a mistake, though, as like most prequels, it touches on key moments in the life of its still-developing hero that will be more meaningful to fans who have already seen where he ended up. In this case, the hero in question is Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the man who anchored the original \u201cNCIS\u201d series for a jaw-dropping 19 seasons, here played by \u201cWhiplash\u201d and \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d actor Austin Stowell.<\/p>\n

Stowell plays a younger Gibbs who\u2019s new on the Naval investigations scene, and die-hard fans of the franchise will enjoy seeing him as a rookie rather than a seasoned leader. Set at the Southern California Camp Pendleton station in 1991, the series\u2019 lone season to date sees Gibbs working under Mike Franks, the man who shows up in \u201cNCIS\u201d as his former mentor. Franks is played here by \u201cBlood Ties\u201d actor Kyle Schmid, subbing in for Muse Watson (who previously played the character in his older years). Interestingly, Harmon returned for the show, narrating it as Gibbs from the future, \u201cHow I Met Your Mother\u201d-style. You don\u2019t technically need to watch any other \u201cNCIS\u201d show to tune into this one, but plenty of original series characters show up, so it makes the most sense to keep up the release order watch-through.<\/p>\n

NCIS: Tony & Ziva (upcoming)<\/h2>\n

The latest \u201cNCIS\u201d spinoff will reunite one of the original series\u2019 most-loved couples, but \u201cNCIS: Tony & Ziva\u201d isn\u2019t on the CBS release schedule yet. The show has been in the works since February 2024, and will bring back \u201cNCIS\u201d stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo for what\u2019s expected to be the franchise\u2019s first direct sequel. According to Deadline, the series will pick up where Season 17 of \u201cNCIS\u201d left off, with (spoilers for the flagship series here) Weatherly\u2019s Agent DiNozzo reuniting with Special Agent Ziva (de Pablo) years after she was initially presumed dead. This makes its place in the watch-through a no-brainer, as the show would likely be pretty incomprehensible without prior \u201cNCIS\u201d knowledge.<\/p>\n

The new series will pick up with the pair raising their daughter in Paris. Of course, their retirement is interrupted when DiNozzo\u2019s security company is hacked and the whole family ends up on the run. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about this story for many years, and now with [\u2018Physical\u2019 and \u2018The Magicians\u2019 executive producer] John McNamara at the helm, we are ready,\u201d the show\u2019s co-stars said in a statement. \u201cThe world of Tony and Ziva (and daughter Tali) promises to be an action-packed roller coaster fueled by love, danger, tears, and laughter.\u201d The show is due out on Paramount+, likely later in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Do you have roughly 1,000 hours to spare and a passion for stalwart procedural crime dramas? Great news: you can start watching every episode of \u201cNCIS\u201d and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1863,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions\/1863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}