Tony DiNozzo is back on the “NCIS” team next season… and now we know a little more about what we can expect from his return.
Michael Weatherly, who is set to reprise his role as Tony on the CBS drama this fall in a season-long arc, opened up about his surprise return while appearing alongside his longtime “NCIS” co-star Cote de Pablo (aka Ziva) at a U.K. fan convention this past weekend.
“I just know that it’s going to be an exciting return,” Weatherly told fans, according to TV Insider. “I have really enjoyed watching what the show has done over the last 10 years since I left, but it’s a different show now. So I’m very much about respecting the show I’m coming into and being aware that they’ve built an extraordinarily successful tenure… but that doesn’t mean that what we did isn’t going to be able to live alongside and inside that show.”
Along those lines, Weatherly added that the events of his recent Paramount+ spin-off with de Pablo, “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” will be incorporated into Tony’s “NCIS” storyline. “I can tell you this: There is a definite connection between [‘Tony & Ziva’] and the canon that that created… There’s not going to be retconning of, like, oh, ‘Tony & Ziva’ never happened.” (“So it’s not going to be a dream sequence?” de Pablo joked.)
NCIS: Tony & Ziva was canceled after one season
Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo did just reprise their “NCIS” roles as Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David last year in the Paramount+ spin-off “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” which found the pair co-parenting their daughter Tali in Paris before getting involved in international intrigue. (Read our finale recap here.) The show, though, was canceled after just one season.
Earlier this month, CBS announced that Weatherly would be returning to “NCIS” as Tony for a season-long arc. (“NCIS” returns for Season 24 this fall, airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m.) Weatherly was an original cast member when “NCIS” debuted on CBS back in 2003, starring as brash field agent Tony DiNozzo for 13 seasons. He left the show in the Season 13 episode “Family First,” with Tony resigning from the team to raise the daughter he shared with fellow agent Ziva. Weatherly later returned as Tony in Season 21 for the funeral of beloved medical examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard (played by the late David McCallum) in “The Stories We Leave Behind.”
What are you hoping to see from Tony in his “NCIS” return? Let us know in the comments!
