Fans of “NCIS” were thrilled by the announcement earlier this year that Michael Weatherly would be returning to the show for the upcoming 24th season.
Weatherly — who exited “NCIS” in 2016 — confirmed plans to reprise fan-favorite character Tony DiNozzo a decade after the character walked off into the sunset.
Now, CBS has issued the first new photos of Weatherly in the upcoming season.
Season-Long Story Arc
CBSThe initial CBS announcement indicated that Weatherly would be sticking around for the entirety of Season 24, in “a season-long arc reuniting him with the NCIS team for the 2026-2027 season.” Whether he returns for Season 25 is reportedly still uncertain.
Weatherly appeared in more than 300 episodes of “NCIS” during the series’ first 13 seasons, and last year reprised DiNozzo for the Paramount+ spinoff “NCIS: Tony & Ziva.”
‘An Exciting Return’
CBSIn a recent apperance at a fan convention, as reported by TV Insider, Weatherly teased what fans could expect to see in the upcoming season.
“I just know that it’s going to be an exciting return,” Weatherly shared.
As Weatherly observed, the NCIS team that DiNozzo returns to is very different than the one he left, given the numerous cast changes that have occurred since the actor’s exit from the show.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
A ‘Tony & Ziva’ Connection
While the “Tony & Ziva” spinoff was canceled after its first season, Weatherly pointed out that the events of the short-lived series will play a role in the 24th season of “NCIS.”
“It’s going to be very interesting to see what is revealed and unfurled, but I can tell you this: There is a definite connection between [‘Tony & Ziva’] and the canon that that created within — there’s not going to be retconning of like, oh, ‘Tony & Ziva’ never happened,” he said.
Don’t Look for Ziva
While Weatherly will be back in the “NCIS” fold, the same will not be true for co-star Cote de Pablo, who portrayed his fellow NCIS officer and on-and-off love interest Ziva David.
Speaking with TVLine, “NCIS” showrunner Stephen D. Binder teased the circumstances that bring DiNozzo back to NCIS.
“He had a private security firm in ‘Tony & Ziva’ called Salus Mondiale,” said Binder, adding that “his daughter has come to the United States and is in boarding school, and he’s opening a satellite office of his private security firm in D.C.”
It’s then that DiNozzo “gets word of something happening with NCIS, and he’s interested about it … that’s how his world crosses paths with ours.”
According to Binder, the character “doesn’t quite have an office yet” in D.C. because of “a mix-up. So instead of having the nice office space that he rented, he’s in sort of like a 1970s WeWork holdover called the Arnold T. Gustafson Commerce Suites. It’s a really fun set.”
Even though DiNozzzo is in D.C. “so he can be closer to his daughter,” Binder confirms that neither daughter Tali nor Ziva will appear in the upcoming season.
“They’re off a couple hours away,” Binder reveals: “The way we address it is Ziva’s hanging out in the town where her daughter is, doing a little helicopter parenting, and Tony’s helicopter parenting in D.C.”
When Does ‘NCIS’ Season 24 Premiere?
The new season of “NCIS” kicks off October 6 on CBS.
That same night will also mark the premieres of the third season of “NCIS: Origins” and the debut season of “NCIS: New York.”
