Young Dwayne Pride is stepping into “NCIS: Origins.”
The beloved NCIS leader, famously played by Scott Bakula over seven “NCIS: New Orleans” seasons(2014-21), gets an “Origins” story in the March 17 (9 ET/PT) Season 2 episode. Former Olympian water polo player Shea Buckner guest-stars as the newbie Probationary Special Agent Pride in the “NCIS” prequel series set in 1990s Camp Pendleton.
“Scott Bakula created this character with such charm and charisma, with such a storied career, that Pride was known as ‘King,'” Buckner tells USA TODAY. “It wasn’t lost on me how important Pride is in the ‘NCIS’ universe and to fans.”
Shea Buckner guest-stars as the newbie Probationary Special Agent Pride on “NCIS: Origins” on March 17 (NBC 9 ET/PT).
Why is Pride in ‘NCIS: Origins’ now?
As “Origins” fans know, the show does a masterful job of filling out the backstories for beloved “NCIS” characters while adhering to the established show’s mythology: The late David McCullom’s young Donald “Ducky” Mallard appeared last year (played by Adam Campbell).
In “NCIS” and “New Orleans” crossovers, Supervisory Agents Dwayne Cassius “King” Pride (Bakula) and Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) were trusted friends and colleagues. Show history states that the two first met in the 1980s, when Gibbs was still a Marine, and again in 1990s San Diego. That’s it.
Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and Pride (Scott Bakula) were great friends on “NCIS.”
“In the ‘NCIS’ canon, we know that Pride and Gibbs met up during this time, so it was important to incorporate that into the show,” says Gina Lucita Monreal, the “Origins” co-showrunner with David J. North.
“But even sticking to canon, there’s a lot to be discovered about these two major figures,” adds North. “That’s where the fun is. We had a completely blank slate.”
‘Origins’ draws a brawling backstory for Gibbs, Pride
“Origins” paints a comical, volatile late-night first meeting at a New Orleans bar between Marine Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputy/moonlighting musician Pride (Buckner), involving Gibbs’ overserved dad, Jackson (Robert Taylor).
Gibbs still harbors a major grudge from their New Orleans bar encounter when meeting Pride again on an NIS 1990s case. Despite their outright tension, the two get paired up on an undercover assignment involving arms dealers and a terrible gold chain for Pride.
Pride (Shea Buckner) and Gibbs (Austin Stowell) go undercover to catch arms dealers.
“Only Murders in the Building” Season 2 star Buckner wowed the producers as young Pride during auditions.
“It’s difficult casting a young Scott Bakula,” North says. “But Shea embodied that charisma and spirit. He was the guy.”
The 6-foot-4-inch Buckner was born in Huntington Beach, California, and was a star water polo player at the University of Southern California, but honed his New Orleans accent to match the St. Louis-born actor Bakula.
“There’s that Pride smile and that accent,” Buckner says. “Once I settled into the accent, it kind of brings the music to life in the body. Pride is a jazz pianist who doesn’t take life too seriously.”
Shea Buckner as Dwayne Pride in “NCIS: Origins.”
Shea Buckner has been on ‘NCIS’
The “Origins” role is not Buckner’s first “NCIS” experience. His first acting role was playing suspected sniper, Xavier Blacburn, in a 2018 “NCIS” episode, who gets grilled by the OG Gibbs (Harmon). “It got heated,” says Buckner.
But afterwards, Harmon, once a star quarterback at USC-rival school University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), talked sports with Buckner.
“I got to really meet Mark and go into his amazing trailer,” says Buckner. “He shared his experience as a UCLA quarterback. I went to USC; he was a UCLA Bruin. But we looked past it.”
The Fed Five beginning is told in ‘Origins”
Besides Pride’s story, the “Origins” episode (“Feelin’ Alright?”) shows the beginning of the Fed Five. The celebrated “NCIS” group, active until 1994, consisted of Pride (Bakula), Gibbs (Harmon), NIS Agent Felix Betts (Stuart Margolin), and was led by Michael Franks (Muse Watson), along with Dan McLane (who was deceased in ‘NCIS,’ but discussed).
In the “Origins” tale, young Franks (played by “Origins” regular Kyle Schmid) has an evolving relationship with McLane (Mark Deklin). Young NIS Agent Betts is played by Adam Kulbersh. With the Fed Five formed, the group could appear in future “Origins” episodes.
“Certainly, there will be a presence because the Fed Five existed in the ‘NCIS’ canon,” says North. “How much we’ll actually see of them is yet to be determined.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘NCIS: Origins’ shows surprising Gibbs, Dwayne Pride first meeting
