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'NCIS' Season 18 Episode 2: Who played young Gibbs from flashback? Here's why he looks so similar to Mark Harmon

Did you know that tonight's episode had Mark Harmon's son in one of the crucial roles?

If you're a fan of CBS' long-term running procedural 'NCIS', Tuesday night (November 24) must have been the most exciting, highly-anticipated night in the history of the show. And yes, that's including Ziva David's Season 17 return in 2019. 'NCIS' just wrapped airing its 400th episode, and while that gave us ample flashbacks of the Ducky and Gibbs relationship that we have always adored, it also gifted us with the younger versions of the two characters who couldn't have been more impeccably cast. But the moment the episode started airing, fans' curiosity was piqued with how similar young Gibbs looked to older Gibbs; that was beyond brilliant casting. The reason? Well, you see, young Gibbs was played by none other than Sean Harmon, who is older Gibbs aka Mark Harmon's real-life son!

Episode 2 of Season 18, titled 'Everything Starts Somewhere' sees "Flashbacks reveal the murder case that first introduced young Gibbs to NCIS and to Ducky." The said flashbacks take viewers back to how the friendship had sprung, with Gibbs initiating Ducy's baby steps into becoming an ME, and Ducky inspiring him, in turn, to pursue his relationship with Shannon and not just end up running from it using NCIS as a ruse because he's afraid of losing in love.

That, and of course, the curious case of Johnny Zuccato, a dangerous crimelord that they tried catching together 40-years-ago, and Gibbs almost lost his life in doing so. At the end of this current episode, the two are finally able to make the long-awaited arrest but fans were more occupied with gushing about how brilliant the casting for the episode was.

While young Ducky was played by the excellent Adam Campbell, young Gibbs was essayed by Harmon's son Sean who seemed to have picked up on his father's mannerisms quite impeccably. The 32-year-old actor has also previously appeared on sister show 'NCIS: Los Angeles' as Charlie Connor in a 2015 episode, and on 'Major Crimes' the same year as a character called Feliz Koster as well. 

Speaking of how brilliantly he portrayed the younger version of a character played by his father, fans took to Twitter to share "Loved #ncis400 ! Thought Harmon’s son looks more like his mom with a touch of Casey Affleck. He did have his dad's body type, facial expressions and mannerisms down to the T. Congrats to #ncis cast and crew for #400 great episodes!" Another added: "I am enjoying tonight's episode of #NCIS and I will admit that Sean Harmon (Young Gibbs) is most definitely looking like his father, Mark (Gibbs)." A third fan added: "Sean is so wonderful as young Gibbs! So wonderful to have both the Harmon boys as Gibbs!"

'NCIS' Season 18 airs on Tuedays at 8pm only on CBS.