Ever since he announced his retirement as one of Naval Criminal Investigation Service’s most fearless agents, fans have been looking forward to what Mark Harmon plans to do next after NCIS and his first upcoming project since leaving the CBS series.
NCIS is CBS’ police procedural drama following the special agents of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service’s Major Case Response Team, the United States Navy’s primary federal law enforcement agency, which investigates criminal activity involving the Navy, the United States Marine Corps and their families. Harmon played Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a Supervisory Special Agent at the NCIS, from Seasons 1 to 19.
He left the series in 2021 after almost 20 years. What has always drawn me here is the character I play and to keep it fresh and to keep it challenging,” Harmon said in a featurette for NCIS Season 19. “Plot-wise, this character has taken the path that it did. I thought it was honest and OK with.”
Since his exit, NCIS fans have wondered where Harmon is now and what he’s doing next after retiring as Agent Gibbs. So what is Mark Harmon doing next after NCIS? See how his new project uses what he learned from almost two decades as a fictional NCIS agent.
What is Mark Harmon doing next after NCIS?
What is Mark Harmon doing next after NCIS? A year after leaving NCIS, Harmon — who played NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from Season 1 to Season 19 — announced his first project since exiting the series: a book titled Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, which he co-wrote with NCIS technical advisor Leon Carroll Jr.
The book, which will be released on November 14, 2023, and is inspired by Harmon and Carroll Jr.’s experiences on NCIS, is a historical account of the Japanese and American intelligence agents in World War II. “These are the real stories from those who were there,” Harmon told People. “It’s real and it’s our history.” The book’s publisher also described it as a nonfiction work that highlights on “the incredible high stakes game of naval intelligence.”
In Ghosts of Honolulu, Harmon and Carroll write about Douglas Wada, the first Japanese American Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) agent, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy assigned to collection information on the United States — two men had important roles in the “world-changing cat and mouse games” between the Japanese and United States military agents in Hawaii before World War II.
The book also details the moral conflicts faced by many Japanese American officers in defending the United States, as well as their communities during the war. The book is also inspired by the ONI’s impact on the real-life Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), which was developed by ONI and previously named the Naval Investigation Service before it changed its name in 1992 to “emphasize the criminal mission of the agency,” Harmon told People
“On the show we used to use the fact that no one knew who this agency was or what they did as a point of humor, but for those doing this difficult job for real, there was nothing funny about it,” Harmon said. “To provide these men and women a chance to tell their story, their REAL story, has been both fun and educational for me.”
Carroll Jr. also told People about the “seamless” experience of working with Harmon on Ghosts of Honolulu. “Through an 18 year relationship, Mark and I have developed a deep appreciation of what we can do together as a team,” he said. “Considering different options and approaches to storytelling is similar, whether it is a book or a television show.”
Carroll Jr., a former NCIS special agent, found several similarities to his previous career while writing the book. He also told People that he was especially impacted by Wada’s story. “He was using many of the same operational methods that I was trained in some 40 years later,” Carroll Jr. said. “I could definitely relate to the challenges he faced maneuvering in an environment where even his co-workers were not sure about what he really did.”
Harmon, for his part, told People that it felt “weird” to add author to his list of credits, which also include TV shows like The Love Boat, The West Wing and St. Elsewhere. “Actors tell stories, so that part is comfortable,” Harmon said. “[But] I have enjoyed great teachers and help, [and] the idea to grow and learn something new every day.”
Carroll Jr. also told People what he wants readers to take away from Ghosts of Honolulu. “I would like the readers of the book to be much more informed about the wide reach of our agency and the role it has played in our country’s defense,” Carroll Jr. said. “Not only [in] providing an investigative service to the Department of the Navy but the role it has played in the security of our nation.”
As for other upcoming projects, Harmon’s last credit listed on his IMDb is NCIS. However, The Hollywood Reporter did report in February 2023 that Harmon had signed with The Gersh Agency, a talent agency that has also represented actors like Brendan Fraser, Allison Janney, Patricia Arquette, Adam Driver and Mandy Moore.
