(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS: Origins Series premiere “Enter Sandman.”

Go in NCIS: OriginsWe knew we would hear Mark Harmon’s voice as he narrated the prequel story of his character, now played by Austin Stowell. But a nice surprise was that Harmon appeared on screen in the series premiere.

Harmon, sitting by the campfire, concludes the episode by explaining, “My dad always said, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.'” I think he was right. No matter how hard you try, or in my case, how far you go, you can never leave it all behind. There is no such thing as a clean slate. They are always here. They are always with you. The stories you told. Damn, even worse, the ones you never could. That’s a story I don’t tell.”

“What you saw is exactly what we wanted to do,” co-showrunner David J. North tells TV Insider. “It wasn’t always the intention to find Gibbs in Alaska, but it’s just conversations between (co-showrunner) Gina (Lucita Monreal) and I, and then we finally went to Mark and said we just think that it is important.” . What a treat for the audience and also for us, for Gina and myself, and going out that day and making the film was a lot of fun.”

North and Monreal both remember seeing Harmon dressed as Gibbs again.

“He got out (of his trailer), and I see Mark every day, but he was wearing the Gibbs wardrobe with the Alaska Gibbs hat and everything else, and I kind of thought, Wow. It was years and fun, just the intricacies of it really brought me back,” North says. (Gibbs was last seen on NCIS Retreat to Alaska.)

Monreal agrees: “That was really special, that moment, especially when he put his boots on. I think when he put his Gibbs boots on, David and I looked at each other and it was just an unexpected burst of emotion for both of us.”

Afterward, the three of them sat in Harmon’s trailer talking, and North noticed that he looked down and saw the star, executive producer, and narrator wearing Gibbs’ ID bracelet. “He already had it on and I just thought, wow, the transformation is amazing,” he says.

Harmon will be heard telling Gibbs’ story in every episode, but could we see him again? “Gina and I have a lot of private conversations, and of course Mark is front and center in all of this. We leave all possibilities open,” says North.

What do you think of Harmon’s on-screen performance? Origins Premiere? Do you want to see him again? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS: OriginsMondays, 9/8c, CBS