NCIS: Sydney’s Back But Where’s Offsider Origins?

TVNZ+ today added seasons two and three of NCIS: Sydney but the latest spin-off, Origins, isn’t on its radar.

Having dropped NCIS: Sydney after S2, TVNZ has relicensed it to complement the premiere of S3 — which lands here nine months after its global debut on Paramount+.

TVNZ says it’s too soon to say if it will pick up S4, which started filming in May.

It also has no plans to acquire NCIS: Origins, even though it’s relicensed Sydney, last year streamed NCIS: Tony & Ziva and has screened all three seasons of NCIS: Hawai’i.

The franchise, which used to be a Three staple, hasn’t rated as hoped on TVNZ 2 (or Prime/Sky Open, which aired NCIS: New Orleans).

S1 of Sydney was broadcast in primetime but S2 was relegated to late-night Sundays.

It’s not clear why TVNZ’s had second thoughts about NCIS: Sydney but isn’t interested in Origins, which is recruiting original NCIS lead Mark Harmon to reprise his long-time role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs for its third season.

Per today’s Hollywood Reporter:

It will feature Harmon as part of a present-day mystery that connects to Gibbs’ time at Camp Pendleton in the ’90s and spans the entire season. That heavily serialised element is also something of a departure for the NCIS franchise, which has built a library of more than 1,100 episodes across seven series (with an eighth, NCIS: New York, on the way) mostly on the back of self-contained procedural stories.

S3’s due to premiere in September or October on Paramount+. But here it’s just the latest P+ series to languish without a platform, along with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, S4-5 of Mayor of Kingstown and The Good Fight.