NCIS’ Mark Harmon makes surprising series confession – ‘Nobody knew in the beginning’

Mark Harmon may not be delivering any hard-hitting lines on NCIS anymore but he just dropped a surprising confession about the series on The View.

On Wednesday, the 72-year-old NCIS alum, who played Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the leading NBC crime drama, made an appearance on The View to look back at his lengthy Hollywood career.

While discussing his new career move of writing a book, Mark also made an unexpected confession about the long-running drama NCIS, which he starred in for 19 seasons.

Host Whoopi Goldberg asked Mark how he came up with the concept of his new project, which he worked on alongside Leon Carroll Jr.

Despite the departure from his acting role in the drama, his new project still has its ties to NCIS.

In response to Whoopi’s question, Mark recalled the moment he landed the job on the CBS drama, explaining: “When I first got the job and I first Googled NCIS there’s no information on it.

“And that’s by design,” Mark added, noting: “Because these individuals have been around for a long time and they did very quiet, very important work and no one knew about it and no one talked about it.

The Agent Gibbs star added: “And so when I got on the set, the first I really met was Leon Carroll Jr and he was my guy, and there’s a big difference here. He is the real deal,” Mark continued as he heavily praised the real-life retired agent who was sat in the front row of the audience.

“And what he did was the important job quietly for so many years and when we talked about the idea of doing a book, because the show was originally based on real cases, we actually just went through history and went back to what was the beginning of NCIS.

“What was the original was NIS and before that, it was Office Of Naval Intelligence,” Mark further revealed about the crime show.

He then revealed: “That’s where Douglas came from,” who is the character in his new book titled Ghosts of Honolulu.

“And so I said initially I wouldn’t touch this project without Leon Carroll Jr and he’s my partner and I love the man,” Mark candidly noted.

Through his new book, Mark explored the true story of Douglas Wada, a Japanese-American born in Hawai’i, who became a spy for the U.S. Navy and his rivalry with Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa.

“He was a very specific guy in a very specific time,” Mark said of his main character.

“This is the first story [leading] to the birth of what became [the real] NCIS,” Mark continued as he went on to say: “These agents are really a different breed.

“I hope that there’s a story revealed here that you don’t know. It was important work they were doing, and no one knew about it.”