The Inevitable End: Why NCIS Has Already Killed a Gibbs & Lala Origins Romance
The announcement of “NCIS: Origins“ sent a ripple of excitement through the long-standing fanbase. The new prequel series promises to take us back to 1994, to the early days of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs’s career. The show’s casting of actress Diany Rodriguez as Special Agent Jane “Lala” Long, described as an “edgy, brilliant, and tough” woman who works closely with Gibbs, has sparked immediate speculation: Is this the first true love of Gibbs’s life? Is this the woman who will shape the stoic, rule-bending agent we know and love?
While the prospect of a budding romance between a young Gibbs and his intriguing new partner is an exciting narrative hook, the reality is far more tragic. The original series, through its meticulous and emotionally resonant character development, has already written the end of this love story. Regardless of how intense their connection is in the prequel, or even if Lala survives the events of the series, “NCIS” has established that a deep, lasting romance between them is impossible. Any attempt to make it so would not only be a disservice to the show’s canon but would fundamentally undermine the very foundation of Gibbs’s character.
The Defining Love: Shannon and Kelly
The central, tragic love story of Gibbs’s life is not up for debate. It is his relationship with his first wife, Shannon, and their young daughter, Kelly. Their death at the hands of a Mexican drug dealer, a man whose operation Gibbs was working to dismantle, is the singular event that defines Gibbs as a character. It is the reason for his stoicism, his commitment to his “rules,” and his often-secretive, lone-wolf persona. The entire show’s mythology is built around the shattered pieces of his heart and his single-minded quest for justice in their names.
If “NCIS: Origins“ were to establish a profound, epic romance with Lala that pre-dates or runs parallel to his relationship with Shannon, it would create a gaping hole in the narrative. The timeline is tight. Gibbs met Shannon when he was a young Marine, and they were married with a daughter by the time he became a special agent. A deep romantic entanglement with Lala would have to be a fleeting affair, an emotional footnote, for the story to be believable. To present Lala as his great, formative love would fundamentally betray the legacy of Shannon.
The emotional weight of Gibbs’s character comes from the fact that he was, and always will be, a broken man. He has had other marriages and relationships, but each one has failed because he could never truly open his heart again after losing Shannon. To introduce Lala as a prior, equally significant love would dilute the emotional power of this central trauma. It would make his later marriages feel less like a man trying to find a piece of himself he lost, and more like a man simply moving from one serious relationship to the next.
Lala’s Role: A Formative Influence, Not a Fated Love
Given the established canon, the most likely and narratively powerful role for Agent Jane “Lala” Long is not as Gibbs’s romantic soulmate, but as a pivotal, formative influence. She is described as “edgy and brilliant”—the very qualities that could challenge a young, hot-headed Gibbs. Her purpose in the story is likely to be a catalyst, a person who helps shape him professionally and ethically, but whose romantic connection with him is doomed from the start.
There are two likely scenarios for her character’s arc, and neither ends in a happily-ever-after romance.
- A Brief, Tragic Fling: The show could portray a brief, intense romantic relationship between them. This could be a way to show Gibbs’s capacity for love before he meets Shannon. However, for this to work without violating canon, it must end tragically and quickly. Perhaps a case separates them, or, more likely, one of them dies or is forced to leave the agency. This kind of “doomed love” storyline would foreshadow the greater tragedy to come and would be a powerful tool for character development. It would explain why Gibbs is so guarded, even before his defining loss.
- A Professional Mentor: The more compelling and canon-friendly path is to frame Lala as a mentor. She can be the person who teaches Gibbs the subtle art of investigation, the importance of procedure, and the moral complexities of the job. Her death or departure would not be a romantic loss but a professional and personal one, further isolating him and reinforcing his belief in a solitary path. This would make her role in his life just as important as a romance, but without contradicting the established fact that Shannon was his one true love.
The Narrative Value of a Doomed Romance
The very impossibility of a happy ending for Gibbs and Lala is what makes her character so important. The audience, armed with the knowledge of what happens to Gibbs, will watch every moment of their interactions with a sense of tragic foreboding. We know their connection is fleeting, their moments of joy are temporary, and a storm is coming that will fundamentally change the man we see on screen.
This kind of dramatic irony is a powerful storytelling tool. It creates tension and emotional depth that a simple, happy romantic plot could never achieve. The show is not a fairytale; it is the origin story of a broken man. And to do that story justice, it must honor the tragedies that we know are coming.
In the end, “NCIS: Origins“ is a show about how Leroy Jethro Gibbs became the man he is. It is a story about the emotional and professional trials that shaped him, not a story about his first great love. That story has already been told, and it ended in a field on the other side of the country. Even if Agent Lala Long survives the events of the prequel, her relationship with Gibbs is already dead. And that, in a way, is what makes her story so compelling. Her role is not to rewrite history but to give it the context and emotional weight it deserves.
