Austin Stowell is single, but not necessarily ready to mingle.
During a recent interview with PEOPLE in 10, the actor admitted he was unattached but not looking to partner up in the near future. That’s largely because his new show, NCIS: Origins, debuting Monday, Oct. 14 on CBS, is taking up all his time at the moment.
“I’m in a relationship with a TV show. I am here Monday through Friday … Remember those 300 people that I was telling you about? They are all my boyfriends and girlfriends,” muses Stowell, referring to NCIS: Origins’ cast and crew.
Jokes aside, the actor notes “kindness” in a future partner is a must-have. “I think the way that someone treats someone on the street, you can really learn a lot about them in those moments,” he explains.
Mark Harmon and NCIS: Origins Star Austin Stowell Go Inside the Prequel Series: ‘We’re a Family Already’ (Exclusive)
A spinoff of the original NCIS, NCIS: Origins chronicles a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Stowell) as a new special agent at the NCIS Camp Pendleton office, led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid, previously played in the original series by Muse Watson). The show’s cast also includes Diany Rodriguez, Mariel Molino, Tyla Abercrumbie and Bobby Moynihan.
Mark Harmon, who played Gibbs on the original series, serves as executive producer and narrator.
Playing a younger version of Harmon is a “tremendous honor” for Stowell.
“I knew that I had something that I could bring to the role and I knew I had something inside me that felt very Gibbs-esque, and so to be tapped to play the guy is absolutely a confidence booster,” he explains. “It’s something that I take a lot of pride in.”
To prep for his audition, the actor actually revisited certain NCIS episodes to learn some of the character’s “Gibbs-isms.”
“There are certain things that Mark does, and they are different to his other characters that he’s portrayed,” Stowell says. “And so I wanted to embody as much of that as I could and decide, okay, if this is day one with Gibbs, how many of these behaviors are innate to him, and how many of them get learned over time? And so that was fun.”
Harmon, who helped cast Stowell, told PEOPLE that he instantly knew the actor had that star quality.
“I felt the room jump a little when Austin came in, before he said anything,” said Harmon. “He walked out and someone said, ‘I’ll just say it, that’s a movie star.’”
Stowell, for his part, says Harmon has been easy to work with, going above and beyond to make himself available.
“He always starts off his conversations with, ‘Do you need anything?’ That is so disarming,” the actor muses. “The guy is a global superstar. He could make it very uncomfortable for people to be around him. Certainly. I mean, for me, a guy who is stepping into the shoes of the character that he created and has become beloved and for everybody else that’s around here. That goes for the crew. He treats everyone with such respect.”
