NCIS has been airing for over 20 seasons, with Season 22 just weeks away from premiering on the 2024 TV schedule. In that time, many cast members have come and gone, and two of the most well-known faces associated with the CBS procedural have been Sean Murray, who’s still part of the main cast, and Cote de Pablo, who was a series regular from Season 3 to the beginning of Season 11. Obviously the show’s in a much different place right now compared to its humble beginnings as a JAG spinoff, but while reminiscing about good times together, de Pablo and Murray went over why Season 3 in particular meant so much to them.
Why Cote De Pablo Is So Appreciative Of NCIS Season 3
You might be thinking Cote de Pablo holds Season 3 in such high regard because it marked her debut as Ziva David, and you’d be absolutely correct! However, while speaking with Sean Murray and Michael Weatherly, who plays Tony DiNozzo, on Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, the actress also explained how just the experience of working on set with the cast and crew was so wonderful with these words:
Season 3 has a special place in my heart. First of all, of course, it was my first season. But Season 3 was like a magical time for me. It was really, truly magical. And there were times when I used to stand and I used to say, ‘Don't tell the CBS people, but I would have done this for free.’ Like I would go home and I would say, ‘I can't believe I get paid.’ It’s a true statement. Later seasons, I was like, ‘Wait a minute,’ but Season 3 was just like when you're just like falling in love with all of it, and it was just so magical and the things were just happening so organically. And I would watch all of these characters come to life and us digging and finding these wonderful moments.
Cote de Pablo’s NCIS journey didn’t get off to the smoothest start, as she initially thought that Michael Weatherly was trying to “sabotage” her audition. But once that misunderstanding was sorted out and she came aboard to play Ziva, she was amazed by how effectively everything was coming together during her first season. Sure, her exit from the show didn’t come under the best of circumstances, but thankfully it didn’t lead to her distancing herself from NCIS permanently, as she cameoed at the end of the Season 16 finale and recurred in Season 17. Now she and Weatherly are shooting their own spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which will be exclusively available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.
Why Sean Murray Looks Back At NCIS Season 3 So Fondly
After debuting in NCIS’ Season 1’s seventh episode and spending the rest of the season as a recurring character, Sean Murray’s wish to return for Season 2 was granted, and once Ziva joined the team, Timothy McGee was technically no longer the “probie.” While Murray enjoyed working on NCIS’ first two seasons, he feels that Season 3 is when the show started to find its groove with the characters. As he explained:
Season 3 was a very special season because it's like the first two, we were figuring out what we were, we were figuring out our strengths. The characters were emerging and everything. And were realizing that our strength was definitely in the characters and not in the procedural of it all. That became very kind of secondary. It was very much in the characters. And I feel like growing with the production, my character grew with the thing. And as things happen, as as the Tony character moved on, that gave McGee an opportunity to step up.
Later in the podcast episode, de Pablo asked Murray if he always felt like NCIS was a family or if that came later, and he responded that Season 3 was when that started to happen, saying:
After you arrived, it started feeling much more of a family. And I'm not just saying that 'cause you're standing in front of me, I swear to God. And I love Sasha Alexander to death. I don't mean in any way against her, and I think it was just part of the time of where we were.
I’m glad he didn’t throw any shade towards Sasha Alexander, with her character, Caitlin Todd, having been killed in the Season 2 finale. While NCIS was a long ways off from achieving the kind of popularity it boasts today, without ironing out the kinks during Seasons 1 and 2, not only would the show not still be airing today, but CBS wouldn’t have one of its most popular procedural franchises. Michael Weatherly also pointed out that Season 3 also introduced Lauren Holly’s Jenny Shepard, who had a unique dynamic with Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs that helped spice up Season 3. Unlike Cote de Pablo though, Holly only spent a few seasons on NCIS, with Jenny being killed in Season 5’s penultimate episode.
NCIS premieres its 22nd season on Monday, October 14, and the prequel NCIS: Origins, which follows a young Gibbs, will air immediately afterwards. We’ll let you know when NCIS: Tony & Ziva drops on Paramount+, and don’t forget that NCIS: Sydney is also returning for a second season.
