NCIS: Origins: Mariel Molino Breaks Down Latest Lala Reveal & Reacts to Our Theory

InNCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 4, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) tells Bishop (Emily Wickersham) that Lala (Mariel Molino) died in a plane crash a long time ago, devastating fans. But we thought there was more to the story — and we’re right. Episode 5 reveals just that, and TV Insider spoke with Molino about Lala’s fate.Warning: Spoilers forNCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 5 ahead!

In the 2026 timeline, in Baltimore, Gibbs and Bishop catch up to the tracker, Roland Briggs, who found Harmon’s character in Alaska. He wasn’t the one to shoot Gibbs, and he’s not keen to give any names … until Gibbs points to the tools and plastic he has out for the two of them. Then Roland shares that a white guy, average everything, found him on the dark web and paid in crypto for him to find two former feds. He didn’t say why, but it seemed personal. He thought Gibbs was dead, and the girl is next. What girl? Cecilia “Lala” Dominguez, your old partner, Roland says. Gibbs says she’s dead.

But wait! Roland lists the “details” — Cessna 172, down in the Sierras, four passengers, no survivors — then says that when he showed the guy her obit, he didn’t read it, but rather just smiled and said, “She wasn’t on the plane.” Gibbs grabs him by the face, and Roland insists it’s the truth. Gibbs then lets him go.

So, yes, Lala is alive, and the other target and Gibbs have only thought she was dead all this time!

With thatand the fact that Muse Watson is returning as Mike Franks (despite, you know, dying years ago) in the present-day timeline in mind, we think we’ve figured out what happened: Franks (Kyle Schmid) helped Lala fake her death, and Gibbs was kept in the dark. With Roma Maffia returning, too, it’s possible that Vera (Diany Rodriguez in the ’90s timeline) was in on it, too.

Below, Mariel Molino reacts to the latest shocking reveal about Lala as well as our theory about what happened to her. (Plus, read what she had to say about the ’90s timeline in this episode here.)

Of course I have to get your reaction to the fact that in 2026, we get the reveal that Lala wasn’t on the plane, isn’t dead, and is the other target.

Mariel Molino: I know. I know, I know. I mean, I’m just like… It’s funny because it’s something that I knew since the start of Season 1, so it’s hard to keep it to myself and to not want to scream it out and just say, “You guys, it’s OK! Just hang on to hope!” You know what I mean? It’s exciting, but it still doesn’t tell us where she is. It doesn’t tell us who she is. And that, to me, is the bigger question. Just because she might be doesn’t mean we know who she is. There’s still so much we have to unpack because if she is alive, why would Gibbs think she died in a plane crash? It just opens up another can of worms of what happened to Lala and what happened in the story for it to get to a point where Gibbs thinks she died in a plane crash.

Robert Voets/CBS

I have a theory, and I’d love to know your take on it, just given what we know at this point. I like the moments we’ve been getting with Lala and Franks this season, like when he closes her mouth when Gibbs is undercover, and this episode, we see Franks really there for Lala. I think that’s an underrated relationship on the show. And so I think it’s possible that Franks could have helped Lala fake her death. So I’m curious: Who Lala is in the ’90s, would she have trusted Franks enough with something like that and to keep it from Gibbs?

I think you’re onto something, Meredith. I think you are. [Laughs]

So Lala in the ’90s, she would’ve trusted Franks enough with something like that?

Well, I’ll tell you this. They have a very strong relationship. Lala is his right-hand man. There is no question about that in my mind. And since Episode 1, one of the things that really, really, really bothered her of Gibbs coming in is that he was going to take that from her, that all of a sudden this war hero was going to come in and just be the golden boy. That’s a big part of the friction that was between them in Season 1. She values her relationship with Franks a lot, and Franks values his relationship with Lala, and I can tell you that they trust each other more than anything or anyone. And [the fifth] episode was a good setup for that because Franks knows; he wanted to hire her despite knowing this. He saw those skills in her, and that’s not in the episode, but I can tell you that the story and the backstory of Lala is that despite everything that happened with her and she got in trouble with the law, Franks wanted to hire her because of it. And I can tell you that in the episode after this episode, you’ll find out more about Franks and Lala.

Yeah, because there’s that moment when Franks is talking to Wheeler (Patrick Fischler) about Lala and how proud he is of her. I just remember when they’ve been going at each other in past episodes, but to see that bond…

But that’s it, though. They are so close because they are able to go at each other.

Exactly.

Lala constantly pushes him and challenges him. And even back in Season 1, one of the worst things that anyone has said to Lala has come from Franks. He has a monologue about calling her a dog in the heat and trying to get her to just either bang Gibbs or get over it. They have a very complicated relationship because they push each other and say things that they regret, but it’s very fraternal in that regard, where they also trust each other with everything.

All hypothetical, but how would ’90s Lala feel if she found out that it took until the present day for her and Gibbs to actually get the happy ending?

Oh my God, she wouldn’t believe it. She would be pissed. She wouldn’t understand that. There’s nothing to her that would get in the way of them being together. It just doesn’t make sense.

NCIS: Origins, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS