Although Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly departed NCIS as series regular long ago, that didn’t mark their last appearances on the popular CBS show. The former made a surprise appearance in the Season 16 finale and then recurred during Season 17, and the latter cameoed earlier this year in Season 21’s tribute episode to the late David McCallum. However, now the time has finally come to reunite these Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David onscreen, with an NCIS spinoff centered on these two heading to Paramount+ subscription holders in the near future. Naturally though, such a series will also have fresh faces along for the ride, and now we have the first details about some of the new characters who will appear in NCIS: Tony & Ziva.
Who NCIS: Tony And Ziva’s New Characters Will Reportedly Be
According to TVLine, this entry in the NCIS franchise, which also has the prequel NCIS: Origins on the way, will include the following characters: a “British nanny/bodyguard role,” a “Russian hacker extraordinaire” and a “French Interpol liaison." We also learned from Michael Weatherly this past weekend that Tony and Ziva’s daughter Tali will play an important role in the spinoff, and the outlet mentioned that the preteen girl will “ideally be played by a French-American ingenue.”
Considering that NCIS: Tony & Ziva will begin shooting in Budapest later this summer, it probably won’t be too long until we learn who’s selected to play these characters. The spinoff will follow Tony and Ziva going on the run across Europe after Tony’s security company is attacked. Along with their leading roles, Weatherly and de Pablo are executive producing the series alongside showrunner John McNamara, who also wrote the first episode. Laurie Lieser, Christina Strain and Shelley Meals will also executive produce.
What Can We Expect From These Characters In The Spinoff?
Naturally I’m already eager to see what kind of dynamics these characters have with Tony and Ziva, but that in turns brings me into speculation mode.
When it comes to Tali, it still hasn’t been officially clarified if she’ll be with her parents while they’re fleeing the people after them or if she’ll be in hiding somewhere else so that Tony and Ziva decrease the chances of her being a target. That said, learning about this “British nanny/bodyguard role” has me thinking the latter might be more likely, Sure, this nanny could easily just accompany the family as they’re on the run, but wouldn’t it make more tense for Tony and Ziva to task this person with keeping Tali safe somewhere else? However, that in turn leads me to wonder if the nanny is indeed trustworthy or if they’re secretly one of the show’s villains.
As far as the other two roles go, it’s hard to gauge whether the Russian hacker and French Interpol liaison will be good guys or bad guys. To just spitball though, my guess for now is that the former is working for whomever NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s main villain is, while the latter is technically a good guy, but perhaps is hunting for the main protagonists because they’ve been framed for a crime. In any case, once these casting announcements come in, the additional character details will paint a better picture about what this show has in store.
It’s unlikely NCIS: Tony & Ziva will be ready in time to air on the 2024 TV schedule, but once an official premiere date is announced, we’ll let you know. Michael Weatherly has also teased Cote de Pablo might be stopping by NCIS again, so that’s something to keep an eye out for in Season 22.
