Before NCIS ever existed, there was JAG, which to this day remains one of the greatest military TV shows. Leading the U.S. Navy-themed series was David James Elliott, who played naval aviator-turned-JAG lawyer Harmon Rabb, Jr., for all ten seasons and 227 episodes. Despite his central role, Elliott never once appeared in the show’s spin-off, which returns with its twenty-third season this fall, prompting curiosity about the possibility of a Harm feature.
The actor has now provided answers, sharing them with TV Insider while discussing his new series, Revival, on Syfy. Apparently, Elliott doesn’t see his JAG character appearing in NCIS, even though he was previously involved in another NCIS show. He said, “I don’t see that happening,” adding, “I don’t really know any of the people on NCIS, but I guess if they came to me, I certainly would consider it. So who knows.”
The characters of NCIS were first introduced in two episodes of JAG: Season 8, Episodes 20 and 21, “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown” in a backdoor pilot. The series has since become a major success, premiering on September 23, 2003, and spawning more follow-ups: NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai’i, NCIS: Sydney, and NCIS: Origins. NCIS last aired on May 5, 2025, with its Season 22 finale; however, before the installment ended, it was renewed for Season 23 in February 2025.
David James Elliott Reprises His ‘JAG’ Role In Another ‘NCIS’ Show
Elliott has been quite busy since his tenure on JAG ended two decades ago, with his most recent work being on Revival, in which he stars as Sheriff Wayne Cypress. Meanwhile, back in 2019, the Canadian star did reprise his role as Harm on NCIS: Los Angeles for a three-episode arc across Seasons 10 and 11. At the time, Catherine Bell was also part of the arc as her JAG character, Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie. Shedding light on his role in the spin-off show, Elliott mentioned the factors that contributed to his involvement, saying:
“I did that because of R. Scott Gemmill, who was a writer in the first two seasons of JAG on the show, and then he left, and he ran ER, and he then, of course, ran NCIS: LA, and he’s still a friend of mine. I pitched an idea to him, and he liked it. We were talking about maybe taking the Harm character and doing something with him or similar to [it], and then he went, ‘Yeah, but why don’t we do this?’ And I went, ‘Oh, great.’ It was fun. It’s fun to work with him.”
JAG aired from September 23, 1995, to April 29, 2005, and is currently streaming on Paramount Plus. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates about the legal drama and its offshoot series.
