Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly bring Ziva and Tony back for new 'NCIS' spinoff
Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly are coming back to the "NCIS" family.
De Pablo, 44, and Weatherly, 55, will reprise their fan-favorite roles of Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo (the couple known to fans as "TIVA") for a new "NCIS" spinoff coming to Paramount+, the streaming service announced Wednesday.
The title of the show that reunited the duo, 10 years after de Pablo left "NCIS," has not been announced but will start production later this year, according to Paramount+.
They will serve as executive producers alongside John McNamara, who wrote the pilot episode, which also features the screen couple's daughter Tali.
The new series picks up as Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter. When Tony’s security company is attacked, they go on the run across Europe to figure out who's chasing them "so that they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after."
“We’ve been talking about this story for many years," Weatherly and de Pablo said in a joint statement. “The world of Tony and Ziva (and daughter Tali) promises to be an action-packed roller coaster fueled by love, danger, tears and laughter."
The actors thanked fans for the ongoing "TIVA" movement support: "To this day, they say hello in grocery stores and on the street to tell us how much these characters mean to them and ask what Tony and Ziva are up to now. This is for you!”
De Pablo is one of the most beloved stars of "NCIS" who left suddenly in 2013 after playing Ziva, a former spy for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, for eight of the show's 10 seasons. "When I walked out, I thought it was over and that was it," de Pablo told USA TODAY when she returned to "NCIS" for guest appearances in 2019. She blamed producers for not treating the character with "proper respect" in a 2016 interview.
Weatherly left "NCIS" in 2016 after 13 seasons to star in the CBS drama "Bull." In that season's finale, he learned that Ziva had died in an attack and gave birth to daughter Tali years before. Later on, it was revealed that Ziva was not dead but on the run in Europe.
Weatherly made a surprise appearance on the Feb. 20 "NCIS" tribute to David McCallum, who played eccentric chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard.