With a series like NCIS being on the air for over 20 years, the show has had its fair share of guest stars. Some of these actors have gone on to have storied careers, with NCIS just being a footnote in their filmography. Stars like Millie Bobby Brown, Sterling K. Brown, and Eric Stonestreet have popped up on the show in small roles before taking on beloved TV characters. Conversely, some of the main NCIS cast members have been involved in other beloved projects throughout the years.
These actors have become so synonymous with their NCIS characters that some audience members might forget where they’ve seen these stars before. For example, a cult classic film like Hocus Pocus stars a young Sean Murray, who plays Timothy McGee in NCIS. Even the face of the franchise, Mark Harmon, played a role in another popular Disney film. Just a month before NCIS premiered in 2003, Harmon starred in Mark Waters’ version of Freaky Friday starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. In this movie, Harmon plays Ryan, the fiancé, and later husband, of Curtis’ character, Tess. Although Ryan was a much lighter character than Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS got to highlight this side of Harmon once again when his Freaky Friday costar Jamie Lee Curtis appeared on the show.
Jamie Lee Curtis Played Gibbs’ Love Interest in ‘NCIS’
After Curtis and Harmon played romantic partners in Freaky Friday, their on-screen chemistry was carried over to NCIS. Making her first appearance in Season 9, Episode 16, “Psyche Out,” Curtis plays Dr. Samantha Ryan, the head of the Department of Defense’s PsyOps division. Although she’s meant to be working with Gibbs, she bugs his house to keep herself in the loop of one of their cases. However, she slowly begins to trust Gibbs when she realizes that he “makes people feel safe.”
Throughout Curtis’ limited appearances, she and Gibbs have a fun dynamic where they banter with one another, but there’s also sexual tension between them. In just a few episodes, they build a romantic connection that highlights a side of Gibbs that isn’t often seen in NCIS. However, just as quickly as they get together, their romance comes to an end in the Season 9 finale, “Till Death Do Us Part.” When navy ships are being targeted by business CEO, Harper Dearing (Richard Schiff), Dr. Ryan assists NCIS in analyzing Dearing’s intentions. She discovers that Dearing is trying to expose the navy for faulty wiring because his son died from an explosion caused by the same issue. Seeing that Dr. Ryan is a threat, Dearing gets Dr. Ryan’s violent ex-husband, Liam Dunham, released from jail on a technicality. Fearing what could happen to her and her son, Parker (Daniel Polo), Dr. Ryan runs away, never to return to the series.
Mark Harmon and Jamie Lee Curtis Return For ‘Freakier Friday’
Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis), Ryan (Mark Harmon), and Harry Coleman (Ryan Malgarini) sitting in a car in Freaky Friday.Image via Buena Vista Pictures
Although Curtis only appeared in five episodes of NCIS, her character was a nice addition to Gibbs’ story. The series has shown Gibbs’ relationship with Shannon Gibbs, his first wife who was tragically murdered, as well as his comedic dynamic with his three ex-wives. However, throughout Harmon’s 19 seasons on NCIS, the series rarely showed a present-day Gibbs in love.
While Dr. Ryan and Gibbs didn’t work out in NCIS, Curtis and Harmon will return as Tess and Ryan in this year’s Freakier Friday. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Harmon mentions how “It’s comfortable with Jamie and always has been.” Even though the pair have scarcely reunited onscreen in the past 20 years, they still have so much love for one another, and it’ll be interesting to see their chemistry once again after their romance was cut short in NCIS.
