Although Michael Weatherly briefly returned to NCIS earlier this year for the episode honoring the late David McCallum, the fact of the matter is that it’s been close to a decade since he last played Tony DiNozzo in a starring capacity. Weatherly exited the procedural franchise’s flagship show in the Season 13 finale, but the time is soon approaching for both him and Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David to get the spotlight again. Their streaming-exclusive spinoff, titled NCIS: Tony & Ziva is in the middle of filming, and while there are a lot of things I’m expecting from the upcoming series, I can’t say say that seeing Weatherly with camels was on my bingo card.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva kicked off production in June in Budapest, and in late August, Weatherly shared a photo on his Instagram page where he was dressed dapperly and looking hot (literally). Two months later, the actor has posted a new photo of himself next to Tony & Ziva showrunner John McNamara with some surprising guests in the background:
Weatherly specifically said he and McNamara were on the NCIS: Tony & Ziva set, so I need to know the context for how camels factor into the spinoff as soon as possible! Granted, we do know that Tony and Ziva will be forced to go on the run across Europe after Tony’s security company is attacked. So evidently one of the places they’ll be visiting has some camels on hand, but what are we talking about here? Will our starring protagonists be at some kind of zoo, or are these camels part of someone’s private collection? I need answers!
NCIS: Tony & Ziva will mark the first time the title characters have shared the screen together since NCIS Season 11’s second episode, which was Cote de Pablo’s final appearance as a series regular. However, after the events of NCIS Season 17, Ziva, who’d been presumed dead for years, was finally able to come out of hiding and reunite with Tony and their daughter Tali. But these former NCIS agents can only keep excitement, danger and intrigue out of their lives for so long, and per the show’s official synopsis, Tony and Ziva “maybe even learn to trust each other again so that they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after” in the midst of this new chapter of their lives.
As mentioned earlier, rather than first airing on CBS like all the other NCIS shows, including the soon-to-arrive prequel NCIS: Origins, NCIS: Tony & Ziva will exclusively be available to watch with a Paramount+ subscription. Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo are joined in the main cast by Isla Gee, Lara Rossi, Amita Suman, Maximillian Osinski, Julian Ovenden, Nassima Benchicou, Terence Maynard and James D’Arcy. As of this writing, there’s been no mention of any other established NCIS characters showing up.
While we wait to learn when NCIS: Tony & Ziva will arrive on Paramount+ and other details, remember that NCIS Season 22 and NCIS: Origins both premiere on Monday, October 14 on the 2024 TV schedule. NCIS: Sydney Season 2 is also on the books, but its premiere date hasn’t been set yet.
