The highly anticipated return of television’s beloved duo, Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, was the major highlight of New York Comic Con (NYCC) on Thursday, October 9, 2025, as series stars and executive producers Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly took the stage for the NCIS: TONY & ZIVA panel.
The newest installment of the NCIS franchise, streaming exclusively on Paramount+, has been described as “the show fans have waited a decade for”. It finds Ziva and Tony reunited with their daughter Tali in Paris, but their domestic bliss is shattered when Tony’s security company is attacked, forcing the family to go on the run across Europe in an action-packed, globe-trotting spy thriller.
Interview with Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly at NYCC
In an interview with Temple of Geek at New York Comic Con Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo) and Cote de Pablo (Ziva David) reveal why they decided to pitch their new Tony & Ziva project, what they missed most about their characters’ dynamic, and why the new show is a spy thriller focused on emotional exploration rather than a standard “cop show”. Weatherly also discusses Tony’s evolution as a father and addresses the fan-favorite question: Will Gibbs ever appear?
A Fan-Driven Return and 20 Years of Chemistry
For both stars, the show’s existence is a direct result of relentless fan loyalty and their own enduring bond. De Pablo revealed that the project was something they had pitched themselves.
Kari (Temple of Geek): When they first approached you for the project, how did you feel?
Cote de Pablo: Well, you know, we pitched it, so we were really happy that it finally happened. One of the main reasons, as you know, is because the fans really wanted it, and we felt that it was something that we could do, and we would love to do, and we would love to explore. The dynamic between these two characters and the love between these two characters, and, you know, the idea of them having a child and how that impacts the relationship. So, those things were a lot of fun for us.
Kari (Temple of Geek): So, the chemistry was there from day one when you guys came back to film.
Cote de Pablo: Day one. It’s 20 years of chemistry. Yeah, amazing.
Weatherly noted that the show was created to address the many questions fans had about the couple’s fate after they left the original series.
Michael Weatherly: Yeah. It’s interesting. I think we knew there were a lot of unanswered questions about the characters and then we kept running into people around the world, the fans around the world, who would say, “Oh, are you married now? Where’s your kid? How old is your kid?”. So, after a while you’re like, “Yeah, these are good questions. We should know whether or not they’re married in whatever universe they live in, multiverse of NCIS-verse”. So, we started talking, “What do you think Ziva’s dealing with? What do you think Tony’s dealing with?”. Tony stepped away from being second Banana and in Gib’s shadow and as he stepped into a place of ownership and more, is he aware that the behavior he was enacting, was he really irritating to everyone?. Is he aware of where that behavior came from? You guys know what I’m talking about.
A Shift to Emotional Spy-Thriller
The new series consciously shifts its tone away from a regular “cop show”. The stars confirmed the series leans into an “action-packed, kind of spy thriller, and emotional” genre.
Kari (Temple of Geek): Why did you want to take this road instead of just doing this regular cop show that we are used to?
Michael Weatherly: Right. So, it’s fun because when we started talking about how the emotional exploration was really what we wanted to investigate, rather than dead bodies and crime scenes and everything. So, our investigative skills were put to work, sort of on our love and on each other. And I think that has been really a beautiful arc for this whole season. And the action is propelling you through a lot of these really dynamic emotional beats that, you know, when you watch an old episode of NCIS that has a Tony Ziva thread in it, you get all this stuff that we’re doing. It’s just about two minutes of it, three minutes in the whole hour. But now you’re getting an hour of it, right? Or maybe 40 minutes of it. And, you know, the action that we’re doing is also much bigger, much badder, much weirder. Like, robot killer robot cars that, you know, chase you down. And the drones are coming out of nowhere. And we have the drone, the robot, the killer robot dog. And I have to say, I was very happy with an ad lib that I had that got in there today. Tony goes, killer robot dog. I mean, come on.
Michael Weatherly: Because he was the one who was like, you know, they’re sending these murder cars after us, killer murder cars. So I think he’s always aware that he’s in a movie. He’s like, What kind of movie am I in?. And that’s kind of fun for me to play with. But I think he’s a much more integrated human now. He’s been a father. He’s been awake, you know, a hundred times with his daughter when she wets her bed or when she has a bad dream or when she— You know, once you— you get out of your own way a little bit when you’re a parent because you have a little person that needs to be taken care of and you’re not the most important person anymore. So for Tony to not be the most important person, wait, you know. And so that, I think, is really a beautiful humility that you see with him. And then we— you know, he’s learned how to care. And then we get to see it in action.
Tony’s Humbling Journey into Fatherhood
A key aspect of the new series is exploring how fatherhood has changed Tony DiNozzo, who spent his early years as “second Banana and in Gibb’s shadow”.
Kari (Temple of Geek): So how does Tony get to balance that, the point that the fact that he’s not just about himself anymore on top of, you know, having these feelings for Ziva and having to now this new love with his daughter? How does he balance? With him not being the person now that is just for himself. That’s just about him.
Michael Weatherly: Yeah, yeah. I think that’s part of the journey for him and his, you know, he grew up really with no parents. His mother died when he was eight years old, and she took him to the movies. So everything he knew about life, he learned at the movies or on television, or on the internet. But he had no woman in his life because she had died. And then nd his father was sort of an absentee guy. But then Tony becomes a father himself, but the mother dies, just like in his childhood. So there are so many echoes. So for me, Tony is learning to balance all these roles in a really kind of mature way. And we’re I’m rooting for him all the time to become as, you know, elevated and modern, thoroughly modern as he can be, while still being fun.
Kari (Temple of Geek): Always, always. And last question. I’m pretty sure you get this all the time. Do you think we will see Gibbs appear at any time?
Michael Weatherly: I know. It’s my favorite idea is that, you know, Gibbs, like Tony’s walking down the street with Tolly, and then she just, you know, he gets slapped on the back of the head by a random stranger walking by. And he goes, “Thank you, boss.” And then Tolly goes, “Why did that man just hit you, daddy?”. And he’s like, “We used to work together”. And like, it doesn’t even have to be Mark. It could just be some guy who just slaps him on the back of the head. But I would love to see Mark Harmon, one of the most important people in my professional life, for sure. I’d love to see Pauly Peret. I’d love to see Sean Murray. Sean Murray. Come on. We got to get the pro-bolicious out there. We’ve got to get McGee and Brian Deetson. Like I was saying to someone, you know, “Oh, Jimmy, why is there a dead body in the trunk of your car?”. I just feel like there are so many Deeks and Kenzie. Why can’t they pop up with— yeah, I think there are so many. I’d love to see Baccula.
Next up, at New York Comic Con:
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