About NCIS
NCIS follows the Major Case Response Team of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a tight-knit unit of federal agents who investigate crimes connected to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Working out of a basement bullpen at the Washington Navy Yard, they chase murderers, spies, and terrorists across a sprawl of military bases, ships, and back alleys. At the helm sits Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former Marine sniper who runs on instinct, silence, and an unwritten code of personal rules.
The show built its fortune on a rare blend of grim procedure and warm, bickering family. Autopsies and forensic breakthroughs share screen time with head-slaps, coffee runs, and the kind of banter that turns coworkers into kin. Spun off from JAG, it grew into a ratings juggernaut and the anchor of a whole franchise, drawing tens of millions of viewers a week at its peak and outlasting nearly every rival in the genre.
Across two decades the cast has shifted, but the heartbeat held steady, carried by characters fans came to treat as old friends. Gibbs and his agents weather loss, betrayal, and the slow churn of time, yet always circle back to the work and to each other. The original era is anchored by Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Michael Weatherly as the wisecracking Tony DiNozzo, and Pauley Perrette as the irrepressible forensic scientist Abby Sciuto.