Michael Weatherly & Cote de Pablo Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of NCIS: Tony & Ziva

After more than a decade, NCIS fans are finally getting the reunion they’ve been waiting for. Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo have returned as Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David in the new Paramount+ series NCIS: Tony & Ziva. In our exclusive interview, the pair talk about how the show came to life, what it feels like to revisit their iconic roles, and how their real-life friendship continues to shape their on-screen chemistry.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva Was Born from the Actors’ Own Idea

Michael Weatherly revealed that he and Cote de Pablo were the driving force behind NCIS: Tony & Ziva. After years of fan questions about their characters’ storylines, they approached Paramount with the concept for the spinoff themselves. Unlike typical “executive producer” titles, theirs reflects real creative input, they developed the show’s vision, tone, and continuation of Tony and Ziva’s journey.

Streaming Freedom Brought Bigger Emotions and Cinematic Moments

Both stars shared how filming for Paramount+ gave them new creative freedom. Weatherly noted that the streaming platform allowed them to dive deeper into emotions, explore more complex storytelling, and deliver the kind of high-stakes action fans expect. “It’s a movie,” he said, adding that the budget, pacing, and production style set NCIS: Tony & Ziva apart from network TV.

Which NCIS Characters Could Return?

When asked about dream returns, Cote said fans would likely be happy with any familiar face from the “mothership.” Michael mentioned they’ve even discussed bringing back “ghosts” like Caitlin Todd or Ari Haswari in memory-driven scenes , a nod to how NCIS has always explored loss and legacy. Both actors praised the franchise’s rich universe, spanning over a thousand episodes, and celebrated being part of the growing “NCIS-verse.”

What “Going the Extra Mile” Means to Michael and Cote

To close the interview, both stars reflected on what “going the extra mile” means personally. Cote shared a saying from her mother: “You can always give a little more.” Now, as a parent herself, she sees that as an act of love and perseverance. Weatherly offered a different take -sometimes going the extra mile means slowing down, being patient, and taking the moment in before reacting.

Read the full interview transcript below:

TEM: What was your first initial reaction about the new series and the return of Tony and Ziva in their own series?

Michael: Well, it was something we talked about for a long time. And after Cote left, and then I subsequently left the main show, we would, you know, talk about general things. And every once in a while, I’d be like, I was going through the airport.  And somebody, you know, stopped me at the urinal and insisted on telling me how much they love a certain episode from season six or something. And then they wanted to know what happened. Where’s Ziva? What happened? Are you guys in Paris? What happened to Tally? And I realized that that needed to be talked about. And then we started discussing how would we do that. So we actually approached Paramount with this idea. And so very early. But that executive producer title that we have, which is normally given maybe as a vanity credit or something, it really, I think, points to our role in bringing this to everybody’s screens. So we’re very invested. We’re not just guns for hire, so to speak. 

TEM: It’s been time since you guys kind of worked together. Did either of you find yourself surprised by what still felt true about your character? And what surprised you about how much you’ve changed in your own approach as actors?

Cote: I don’t think we’d be doing this if we weren’t always surprised. You know, because there is an element of that as an actor, but certainly in a friendship that you could kind of, you know, find laughter in not the same things, but in things that are constantly mutating. And, you know, it’s not that your sense of humor changes much because I still think we have that like very childlike thing that we can activate in each other, which is like so good in any kind of a friendship. But to have that also be tied into all of the professional stuff, I feel like I get a lot of energy from him. And I hope he gets my energy going right back at him. So in a way, it’s like it’s like this kind of energy thing that just kind of moves forward. Kind of not okay to explain it. I’m not sure if I’m doing a good job. But it’s an energetic gift that we get. And it was kind of there from the beginning, so we kind of don’t mess with it.

TEM: You know, when you’re revisiting, I feel like such iconic older characters, I can sometimes bring pressure as in like bad expectations or nostalgia. Was there ever a moment that during shooting where, you know, you guys thought I’m stepping too far? Or are we losing what made Tony and Ziva resonate? And how did you recalibrate that? 

Michael: I mean, to me, the key thing was thinking about the setting. And I don’t mean just Budapest and the future that we were creating and even the characters. What I was thinking about, if anything, in terms of an audience expectation was the platform. Because being on Paramount Plus meant that we were given a kind of much bigger budget.  

Cote: Well, and also an arena to explore. There was a certain freedom that came with a streamer. 

Michael: And the emotions could be deeper and could be explored more fully. And that is, you know,  I was never trying to anticipate what an audience might or might not want completely. I think I only used myself or Cote. Really, we use each other as a sort of tuning fork to make sure that we’re staying in key with each other, with the piece. But also, you know, when you’re going to be next to Mobland and Tulsa Kings and Landman and all these incredible shows on a streaming platform, you do have to realize that it’s a movie. It’s going to have the expectation, maybe for critics or other people, is going to be out there. And so you want it to,  you want to make sure that it’s epic. And the car chases, the emotions, the,  you know, hairstyles. We wanted to make sure that everything was, the mustache,  as awesome as it could be. And, you know, this finale that’s coming is, I think, the culmination of all of those things. And then we have the gift of unscrambling the 10 episodes. I think that audiences are going to take a minute and then they’re going to say, wait,  I have to go back and I have to watch it again, because you’ll see things that you didn’t see the first time because of the way that the story has been unraveled.

Cote: And you’re revisiting the past.  So a lot of the stuff that’s actually the payoff for the fans, for example, all of the romantic bits and things like that, they’re getting, but they’re all a part of the past, you know? So that  was also interesting. And we had to, with John and obviously all the people involved, how did we  distinguish those moments in the past from the present and wigs and all sorts of things that had to come in, in order to also help the fans, you know what I mean? How do we give them a distinction, those moments? And so that was kind of a fun way of, of being able to put the puzzle together to tell the story.

TEM:  So if you could bring back one character from the original NCIS series or beyond into Tony and Ziva’s life into a meaningful way, not just a cameo, who would it be and how would they support or disrupt Tony and Ziva’s new life?

Cote: You know, that’s such a great question, because first of all, I think everyone  in the mothership, certainly when we were all there, such beloved characters. So I think even if you were to say, Oh no, this one or that one, I don’t think you could make a wrong choice. I think the fans would be so happy with getting, you know, of course there’s going to be people like, Oh, Gibbs is, you know, a Papa Smurf. Let’s bring him in. The truth also is a lot of people are still actively working, and they have a very demanding schedule. So it would be, you know, then you have  to get into the logistical things like, are they going to be available? Are they going to be able  to be willing to do something, let’s say, in their very short hiatus? You know, so there’s a couple of  things, but I don’t think you can make a wrong choice. 

Michael: We had talked when we did our Spotify podcast last year, we had talked to Ari Haswari. Rudolph Martin, who played Ari, who played your half brother. We talked to Sasha Alexander, who played Caitlin Todd. We talked to, you know, these characters are dead, right? Those roles have been extinguished long since, however, like 20 years. But wouldn’t it be interesting to bring those kind of ghosts back or echoes of that?

Cote: Oh yes, and that would be very much the mothership, if you really look at the mothership the way it was made up.  Mike Franks. I mean, we always bring people  back. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of exploring the psyche of the character, where they’re going, how they’re evaluating things, how they’re processing things through a dream sequence.

Michael: And I think that’s what NCIS Origins does really well right now, is like, looks at Gibbs, but it also looks at Mike Franks, and it looks at when Gibbs was the probie, and it looks at, they had  David McCallum’s, they had Ducky come back. And so it’s just a, I think there’s, we have to remind people sometimes, there’s over a thousand episodes of this universe that you can, you know, sift through. And that is just a thousand hours plus on Paramount+, that you can like really explore what it is that makes this thing tick. It is awesome to be part of the NCIS-verse, is that what I think it’s called? 

Cote: Yeah, NCIS-verse. But I think, yeah, but I think what you’re saying is, during the mothership, you had this very solid formula, which was this family, dysfunctional family, that was solving crimes for the Navy. And it lived in this procedural world, this procedural bubble. But the truth of that is, I don’t think it would have translated as well as it did had the characters not been so solidified, had they not been so perfectly executed by the people who were playing them, you know? And that in itself is such, that I think it’s the recipe, that I think it’s the thing, you know? The formula obviously works. There’s tons of, you know, NCIS is, as you know, there’s a big universe of it. But the casting and really leaning on the characters is what really can carry the procedural forward. 

TEM: How do you go the extra mile? Or what does that mean to you? 

Cote: My mom has this beautiful saying, which is, You can always give a little more. And I was always like, Mom, that is so unkind. Because sometimes I’m really just tired. And then of course, I became a mother, and I understood what she meant. When I am exhausted, there are moments that I will look at my kid, and I will like surpass the exhaustion level. And I will, I need to. It’s not even like I want to, or it’s called upon me. It’s a need to just give more, you know? So, it’s kind of a beautiful thing. 

Michael: And you know, here’s going to be my extra mile moment, which is a more granular sort of quantum atomized version of the mile. 

Cote: That’s why we love you. 

Michael:  Which is, what I have learned to do, is slow everything down to almost that matrix with the bullet going by and then coming back. Because sometimes that patience is the extra mile, not responding or reacting. But going, the extra mile sometimes is that, take the moment. 

Cote: You never cease to surprise me. 

Michael: Well, that’s my extra mile.

NCIS: TONY & ZIVA are now streaming on Paramount+.

The finale episode will be available to stream starting October 23. You can also catch up on the entire NCIS universe, with all series streaming now on Paramount+.