Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo are returning to the NCIS franchise.
Weatherly, 55, and de Pablo, 44, will reprise their respective fan-favorite roles, Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, in an unnamed spinoff series ordered by Paramount +, the streaming platform revealed in a Wednesday, February 28, press release.
The new show, which is slated to begin production later this year, picks up with Tony and Ziva, affectionately called “Tiva” by some NCIS fans, raising their daughter, Tali, together.
The action begins when Tony’s security company is attacked. The couple must figure out who is targeting them, learning to trust each other again in the process.
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Weatherly and de Pablo, whose NCIS characters first crossed paths during a 2005 episode of the OG show, will both serve as executive producers on the new series. The costars shared their excitement for the spinoff in a statement included in Paramount’s press release.
“We’ve been talking about this story for many years, and now with [executive producer] John McNamara at the helm, we are ready,” they said. “The world of Tony and Ziva (and daughter Tali) promises to be an action-packed roller coaster fueled by love, danger, tears and laughter.”
Weatherly and de Pablo added that they wanted to “acknowledge and thank the fans from around the world” who’ve “supported the ‘TIVA’ movement” through the years.
“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!” they said.
De Pablo previously left NCIS in 2013. Her exit was explained by Ziva’s supposed death, leaving Tony to raise Tali on his own.
Weatherly stayed on the CBS show for several more years, leaving in 2016 after Tony revealed his decision to resign from NCIS and devote himself to fatherhood during the season 13 finale. Both Weatherly and de Pablo have made appearances on the series since the season 16 reveal that Ziva was still alive.
After leaving the main cast of NCIS, Weatherly went on to star in the CBS legal drama Bull from 2016 to 2022. In December 2018, it was revealed that CBS paid Eliza Dushku, who briefly appeared on the series, a $9.5 million settlement following a claim that she was written off Bull after confronting Weatherly about his alleged inappropriate behavior on set. The network subsequently stood behind Weatherly.
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During a May 2019 press call, then-President of Entertainment at CBS Kelly Kahl said, “Michael made a mistake in his comments [to Dushku]. He owned that mistake. He was apologetic at the time, and he was remorseful. He was willing to take any kind of coaching or training we deem necessary for him to create a positive environment on the set.”
Dushku, 43, detailed the alleged harassment during a December 2018 Boston Globe op-ed.
“Weatherly had a habit of exaggerated eye-balling and leering at me; once, he leaned into my body and inhaled, smelling me in a dramatic swoon,” she wrote. “As was caught on tape, after I flubbed a line, he shouted in my face, ‘I will take you over my knee and spank you like a little girl.’”
Weatherly apologized for his behavior via a statement to The New York Times in December 2018.
“During the course of taping our show, I made some jokes mocking some lines in the script,” he said. “When Eliza told me that she wasn’t comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized. After reflecting on this further, I better understand that what I said was both not funny and not appropriate and I am sorry and regret the pain this caused Eliza.”
