NCIS: Origins Suggests Who The Final Target Of The Attackers Is After Shocking Death

Published Oct 30, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 4, "Shimmy Shimmy Ya."NCIS: Origins season 3 immediately brought a burning question for the entire season. After shooting Gibbs (Mark Harmon) at the end of the NCIS: Origins season 3 premiere, the attackers said, "one down, one to go," and over the past four episodes, viewers have wondered who the "one to go" is. This storyline will develop slowly throughout NCIS: Origins season 3, but small clues lead to big theories.

NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 4 featured another NCIS character returning. Emily Wickersham returned as Elle Bishop, who revealed that Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) had called her in to help. Gibbs didn't want to destroy anyone else's lives since he was going off-grid, but Bishop's whole life is off the grid. Elle has nobody who relies on her back home, making her the perfect person to help figure out who wanted Gibbs dead.

It was a reunion worth waiting for, and not for the "grab your gear" line. It also answered one of the biggest burning questions since NCIS: Origins started. In that moment, it not only helped explain Gibbs' delay in telling a particular story but also narrowed the list of potential victims in a thrilling way.

NCIS: Origins Reveals the One Answer We've Needed from the Beginning

From the very beginning of NCIS: Origins, the big question has been about Lala and what happened to her. There was always that hint that she had died. After all, Gibbs hadn't spoken about her until he moved to Alaska and finally realized that he had to tell her story, similar to the way he remained silent about the deaths of his wife and daughter, Shannon and Kelly.

However, anyone who knows Gibbs from NCIS knows that Lala didn't necessarily have to die for him not to utter her name. It just meant something devastating happened, and there was hope Gibbs could find her and enjoy his twilight years with her.

NCIS: Origins season 3, episode 4 finally answered the questionand confirmed Lala's death. However, it's possible that she wasn't killed in action, as Gibbs told Bishop that she had died in a plane crash. He holds her memory close, and he clearly misses her, but this development offers hope that fans will see him grieve her loss during the NCIS prequel series.

Who Gibbs' Attackers Are After

One thing Gibbs also confirmed is that Lala isn't the "one to go" that his attackers mentioned. With Lala already dead, they're after someone else, presumably from the team, which narrows the potential victim to one: Randy.

It can't be Franks, as he is already dead. Gibbs had to mourn the loss of his mentor during the NCIS season 8 finale, when he was stabbed outside of Gibbs' house by the Port-to-Port killer. Just before that, Franks revealed that he had terminal lung cancer, so his death was more of a heroic sacrifice than anything else.

So, only one person from the main team is left, and it's the character many wondered about when NCIS: Origins season 3 pushed the idea of a case from the past coming back to haunt Gibbs. Randy was taken at the end of the NCIS: Origins season 2 finale, and while he was found and saved in the season 3 premiere, some elements of that case are still somewhat open. His computer, which had digitized all the former cases, was also taken, and who knows who had their hands on it during that time.

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

Randy hasn't been seen or mentioned in the present day. Sure, Vera is alive, but since she's already been a huge part of NCIS and appeared in NCIS: Origins, it makes more sense to develop a story around Randy, who's become a beloved member of the team.

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  Austin Stowell

  Leroy Jethro Gibbs

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  Kyle Schmid

  Special Agent Mike Franks

NCIS: Origins is set in 1991, preceding the events of the original series. The series introduces Leroy Jethro Gibbs as a new special agent at NCIS Camp Pendleton. Under the leadership of NCIS legend Mike Franks, Gibbs navigates his role within a tenacious, unconventional team.