Throughout NCIS, various members of the team have walked straight into Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ home. Whether he’s home or not, he doesn’t bother locking his front door, and it’s something that we have questioned time and time again. Having seen some of the worst of humanity throughout his career in law enforcement, Gibbs obviously understands the great risk he's taking with his own life every night.
When Gibbs left in NCIS season 19, he still never shared with anyone why he kept the door unlocked, and it wasn't even something that came up between him and other characters. Nobody else seems to have that question in the series, and it has taken another cast member to clarify. Cote de Pablo, who many would love to see guest star in NCIS season 22, has finally answered the question about why Gibbs doesn’t bother to lock his door, and it turns out that the reason is heartbreaking, and it links back to Shannon and Kelly.
Cote De Pablo Reveals The Canon Reason Why Leroy Jethro Gibbs Didn't Lock His Front Door
Gibbs Has Already Lost It All
It has taken three years and an NCIS rewatch podcast to finally get the answers about Gibbs’ decision to make it easy for anyone to walk in. De Pablo and Michael Weatherly have their own podcast, Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, where they talk about episodes and share small details. In an episode with Sean Murray from June 2024, the topic came up, and De Pablo explained that Gibbs doesn't lock his front door simply because he's already lost everything that he values.
The answer is because he has already lost what was most important to him, so he actually doesn’t care.
The items in his home are just things, and he doesn't care if they are stolen. Without Shannon and Kelly around anymore, Gibbs no longer needs to worry about their safety, which means he doesn't have to worry about making sure the home is locked up tight with a security system in place. Despite all the people who may want revenge against him in NCIS, the worst has already happened to him, and he knows how to protect himself should somebody break in.
How NCIS: Origins Has Made Kelly & Shannon's Murder More Tragic
NCIS: Origins Goes Back To The Start
For the longest time, NCIS shared few details about Kelly and Shannon’s murder. While we got to learn about how it happened and some of the details of the aftermath for Gibbs, the series never showed the murder on screen. The prequel series NCIS: Origins changed some of that, making the murder more tragic as more of the story happens in the present day. More details have come out, highlighting everything that Gibbs had to face afterward and how long it took to get the revenge he needed.
NCIS: Origins included Gibbs seeing the car used in the murder, and the series included a scene of him learning the truth while on active duty. While Harmon narrates the story, Austin Stowell’s version of Gibbs acts out the search for the man responsible for their murders, including a scene of him cutting off the cast from his leg and purposely heading to Mexico to get revenge.
While Gibbs has always grieved the loss of his wife and daughter, NCIS: Origins has focused on the immediate grief. The show gave us the initial pain, Gibbs' questions of what to do in life next, the need to remove painful memories from his life, and his need to push away people who just want to help. Later, the only person who managed to help him heal died of cancer, adding to the grief he already felt. The prequel offers a rawness of emotion that wasn’t shown in too much detail in NCIS, making viewers feel the loss of Shannon and Kelly much more.
Source: Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch
