Summary

While often disregarded, NCIS wasn't an original show but a spinoff of JAG.
JAG's version of Gibbs' team had different compared to the original NCIS cast.
Vivian Blackadder and Don Dobbs didn't return in NCIS after being part of Gibbs' MCRT in the JAG backdoor pilot.
Producers thought that Blackadder was too soft, so she was replaced by Kate Todd. No official reason why Dobbs was not retained.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs' team was different in JAG than when NCIS remains one of the most popular shows on TV, only bested by CBS' Tracker in of ratings during the shortened 2023-2024 TV season.

Despite the changing entertainment landscape, the project is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. None of the original NCIS cast is still with the show, but somehow, it has found a way to thrive. Still, there's so much fascination about the show's earliest years, especially in light of Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast, which has brought back several cast to talk about the beginnings of the narrative. That said, not much has been said about how NCIS was launched with a special two-episode backdoor pilot in JAG, which featured a slightly different team for Gibbs.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS and Austin Stowell as young Gibbs

New NCIS Gibbs Prequel BTS Image Officially Fixes Its First Major Mark Harmon Mistake

As filming starts, a new NCIS: Origins BTS image confirms that it has officially fixed its first mistake about Mark Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

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Gibbs' Original NCIS Team In JAG Explained

DINozzo Was ed By Two Other MCRT Special Agents

In the spring of 2003, ahead of NCIS' premiere in the fall, Donald Bellisario tested the waters about the new show by bringing in Mark Harmon's famed naval investigator to mingle with his "uniformed lawyers." Appearing in JAG season 8 episodes 20 and 21, "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown," Gibbs and the MCRT were called to the scene after a young Boy Scout found a dead body, who happened to be a Naval officer formerly associated with the Judge Advocate General or JAG office.

Instead of the original NCIS team of Michael Weatherly's Anthony DiNozzo, Sasha Alexander's Kate Todd, David McCallum's Ducky Mallard, and Pauley Perrette's Abby Sciuto, JAG's version of the squad featured a couple of different agents. Since Todd didn't MCRT until "Yankee White," Gibbs and DiNozzo responded to the scene with Robyn Lively's Vivian Blackadder. Subsequently, Thomas Anthony Jones also debuted as another member of the group named Don Dobbs. Aside from their JAG case, this version of MCRT was also working on stopping a terrorist attack.

Why Blackadder And Dobbs Didn't Return In NCIS

Blackadder Was Replaced By Sasha Alexander's Kate Todd

Gibbs, Blackadder, DiNozzo, and Ducky in JAG

Now that all 10 seasons of JAG are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video (Paramount+ only has a handful of episodes), there may be questions about the change in Gibbs' team and why there wasn't a clear explanation about it. Despite the brief gap between its backdoor pilot and NCIS' premiere, MCRT underwent retooling during the break. Aside from Harmon, Weatherly, McCallum, and Perrette were all brought back to reprise their roles full-time, as well as, Alan Dale as NCIS Director Tom Morrow. However, Lively and Jones were never seen or even mentioned again as Blackadder and Dobbs.

Reportedly, the reason why Lively wasn't retained as Blackadder was because Bellisario thought that the character was way too soft to be part of the ensemble.

Reportedly, the reason why Lively wasn't retained as Blackadder was because Bellisario thought that the character was way too soft to be part of the ensemble. Eventually, she was replaced by Alexander's Todd, who was still quite feminine but didn't pull punches when dealing with her male-dominated team. In of narrative, there's no official explanation for Blackadder's absence in NCIS, but considering how she almost jeopardized MCRT's terrorist case, it isn't difficult to imagine that Gibbs would have fired her. Unfortunately, nothing has been revealed about why Jones wasn't brought back as Dobbs.

Tony DiNozzo, Ellie Bishop, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Jessica Knight, and Jimmy Palmer in NCIS-2

Knight & Palmer's NCIS Season 22 Break-Up Repeats its Worst MCRT Exit (& It's Somehow Worse)

Jessica Knight and Jimmy Palmer breaking up in NCIS season 22 not only repeats the show's ugliest character exit, but it's actually worse.

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Can Gibbs' Original NCIS JAG Team Still Return In The CBS Franchise?

Blackadder And Dobbs' NCIS Debut Can Answer Lingering Mysteries About Them

JAG's arrival on streaming could result in a resurgence in popularity, as seen with Suits' Netflix domination after it landed on the platform. With that comes the possibility that either Dobbs or Blackadder find their way back to MCRT via NCIS season 22. For what it's worth, JAG characters have appeared in the long-running franchise before. Lieutenant Commander Faith Coleman had multiple appearances during the earliest years of NCIS, while Navy Captain Harmon Rabb Jr., while Lieutenant Colonel Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie returned for a three-episode arc on NCIS: L.A.

It would be a trip down memory lane to see Gibbs' old agents back in the bullpen, even though he's no longer there. Perhaps they're recruited for a case that they worked before, which would be similar to NCIS' 1000th episode revisiting its very first case with Todd. If not in the main series, Gibbs' prequel NCIS: Origins could eventually revisit his old team once the spinoff reaches the point in the timeline where he was already spearheading MCRT.