From a military procedural to a global franchise, the evolution of NCIS television

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Born as a backdoor pilot from the legal drama JAG in 2003, NCIS has transformed into a sprawling television empire. With eight distinct series spanning 53 seasons and over 1,100 episodes, the franchise has redefined the procedural genre, expanding from domestic investigations to international settings and nostalgic origin stories.

The NCIS franchise centers on the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a concept originally developed by Donald P. Bellisario. While the flagship series remains the cornerstone of the brand—having premiered its twenty-third season in October 2025—the franchise has aggressively expanded through a series of spin-offs. These iterations often utilized a two-part backdoor pilot strategy, where new characters were introduced within an established series before launching their own shows. This method successfully birthed series like NCIS: Los Angeles in 2009 and NCIS: New Orleans in 2014.

The franchise has demonstrated significant geographic and narrative flexibility. NCIS: Hawaiʻi, which premiered in 2021, marked a milestone as the first series in the franchise to feature a female lead. By 2023, the brand crossed international borders with NCIS: Sydney, the first installment set outside the United States. Meanwhile, the franchise has looked backward as well as forward; NCIS: Origins, a prequel series launched in 2024, explores the early career of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the 1990s, featuring Mark Harmon as both an executive producer and the series narrator.

Despite its massive success, the franchise has faced challenges in maintaining its momentum. Not every attempt at expansion has succeeded; a proposed spin-off titled NCIS: Red, which was intended to follow a mobile team of agents, was ultimately not picked up by CBS in 2013. More recently, the franchise has experimented with character-focused limited narratives, such as NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which was announced in 2024. As of 2026, the franchise continues to evolve with the addition of NCIS: New York, ensuring that the brand remains a dominant force in the global television landscape, reaching audiences in over 200 territories.

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