Origins, And I Have Questions

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I, probably like many who love movies and television, do frequently have to remind myself that everyone in the entertainment industry doesn’t actually know everyone else in the business. Sure, it’s a relatively small community, particularly when you think of the truly famous among them, but it would still be hard for literally all of them to be well acquainted, right? Well, movie megastar Tom Cruise just visited the set of NCIS: Origins, and man, do I have questions about that encounter.

What Happened When Tom Cruise Visited The Set Of NCIS: Origins?

Talk about the question of the moment, right? NCIS: Origins just began Season 2 on the 2025 TV schedule, and revealed what happened to Lala during CBS’ week of premieres. However, it appears that something equally as intriguing as the upcoming complications for Dominguez’s journey back to normalcy happened behind the scenes, as Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning star Tom Cruise visited the Origins set recently. Take a look:

This is amazing for the cast and crew, but, like…what? Never in a hundred lifetimes could I have guessed that something like this would happen, and now I have roughly 2.5 million questions.

Daniel Bellomy, who plays Special Agent Granville Dawson on the drama and is standing behind Cruise in the pic, posted the photo to his own Instagram and noted that the star “pulled up to set” and had “great times” with everyone, which makes it sound like a lovely, casual hang. I’m still wondering, though…why?

Movie fans likely know that the Top Gun: Maverick (which is preparing for its own sequel) star has a long working relationship with Paramount because of the M:I franchise, so it makes some sense that he’d be on the lot for one reason or another. That doesn’t, in any way, suggest that he’d automatically decide to stop by the NCIS: Origins set, though, so what brought this on? Does he just visit rando sets every now and then?

Or, is Cruise actually a fan of the show or the NCIS franchise as a whole? That wouldn’t be too terribly shocking, seeing as how it’s one of our longest running TV properties and has some of the most enduring series on television, with this Gibbs prequel tale being the fifth of six spinoffs since everything started in 2003.

David J. North, who’s a writer on the show, shared some more info on the visit, along with additional pics and a clip that seems to show Cruise on a video call with…Emilio Estevez (??) as one of the show’s leads reenacts a scene of his:

Again…So. Many. Questions! Was he simply on the lot meeting with someone else and thought it would be nice to just pop in and see what was being filmed that day to say hello to his fellow actors, whoever they may be? Or, does he know someone who works on the show, set out to visit that person, and then made himself available to the whole cast and crew?

Also, while I’m glad it sounds like they all had a good time, what did they talk about? I understand that those on set that day (like stars Austin Stowell, Tyla Abercrumbie, and Caleb Foote) probably have lots of experience talking to super famous people, can’t you imagine it being kinda wild to start your work day and then be surprised by a (seemingly) random appearance from the man who may be the biggest movie star in the world? What does one do? Start a convo by talking about the weather?

Maybe the whole interaction involved Cruise video chatting with some of his movie star buddies as members of the cast impersonated them. Whatever happened while he was there, we can probably bet that the Origins cast and crew won’t soon forget it.