On the ‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ set, Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo discuss their plain chemistry and why their reunion felt like coming dwelling
Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo had been taking pictures a scene in a jail cell after we visited the Budapest set of their NCIS spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, final fall. In 10 action-packed episodes, the actors are reprising the roles of their beloved brokers, Tony DiNozzo and former Mossad operative Ziva David. Their lives are radically completely different because the sequence begins, however throughout that second within the pen, it’s basic “Tiva.” As she tends to his head wound, he playfully confesses that he may think about remedy. She appears to be like at him along with her normal exasperated affection and says, “All it took was a little bit factor like having our lives utterly shattered.”
Behind bars is simply one of many harmful locations they discover themselves in NCIS: Tony & Ziva, a long-in-the-making sequence that options two twisty mysteries. One facilities on the crime case that has the couple making a pit cease in jail (they received’t be there for lengthy!). The opposite, and perhaps extra puzzling for longtime followers, is why Tony and Ziva, who’ve extra chemistry than 1,000,000 periodic tables, have cut up up.
Because the pair race round Europe, flashbacks reveal what occurred of their relationship, starting with their joyful reunion after Tony discovered Ziva was alive and left NCIS to be along with her and lift their daughter, Tali. The in-the-past love scenes are a bit steamier on Paramount+ than they had been on broadcast community CBS, and the warmth builds once more on this new mission. “It’s a romance in an motion saga,” de Pablo notes.
The premiere finds them dwelling in Paris, however not collectively, as they co-parent Tali with the assistance of a nanny, Sophie (Lara Rossi). Ziva owns a language college, and Tony has a safety firm, which is the place the difficulty begins.
“Tony began Salus Mondiale and have become very profitable,” Weatherly previews. “We defend individuals, however we additionally defend, as an illustration, Interpol’s funds. In order that’s a excessive diploma of menace, and that kicks us off.”
Regardless of some courageous, world-saving strikes within the dynamic premiere, Tony finally ends up being framed. Worse, the baddies threaten Tali. To avoid wasting their daughter whereas they clear Tony’s identify, they ship Tali to security with Sophie and begin a journey throughout Europe with a workforce of their very own, together with his Chief Technical Officer Claudette (Amita Suman) and a hacker named Boris (Maximilian Osinski). De Pablo says. “We each go, ‘We have to do that, and we now have to cooperate, and we now have to make it work regardless of our variations, and perhaps even though we’re feeling the feels for one another.’ That’s difficult. That’s the place the present goes.”
There’s even one undercover op, first glimpsed within the premiere, that includes Ziva in a marriage costume and Tony in a tux. “The irony,” de Pablo says. “The factor that they most wished [marriage] is now an undercover mission, and so they’re dressed because the components of the factor that they most wished.”
So what did go incorrect? “Tony’s resisting a number of issues he doesn’t know the way to take care of,” de Pablo says. Ziva, in the meantime, is in remedy “and tackling these massive points,” de Pablo provides. “He’s watching and going, ‘What’s happening?’ He’s unraveling in his personal means. Towards the tip, you perceive what that journey is from an emotional perspective.”
It’s no marvel 93 million followers seen the trailer for Tony & Ziva the primary week after it dropped in Might. The power between Weatherly and de Pablo has all the time been electrical, and it confirmed throughout our cowl shoot—on a balcony overlooking the Danube River. They’ve nonetheless received it, from the smoldering eye contact to the playful banter.
De Pablo enthusiastically presents that “taking pictures in Europe for us has been a dream.” It’s been a dream for followers (and us!) to see them collectively once more, so we had been thrilled to meet up with the pair, who had been cuddled up on a settee after the shoot.
Scott McDermott
How does it really feel to be working collectively once more?
Michael Weatherly: Generally, like once you return to the 15-year class reunion. We’re in a scene, and he or she’s watching my hairline. I’m like, “It’s going a little bit, but it surely’s wonderful.” There’s been listening to loss. I’ve shrunk. My earlobes have gotten greater. My first scene, they mentioned, “You’re going to stroll in and sit down.” I mentioned, “OK, so it’s a stunt.” I’m not getting any youthful! I’ve a stuntman who jumps over vehicles, wears a tuxedo, shoots weapons, will get shot.
Cote de Pablo: Michael!
Weatherly: You get to work with him since you’re doing your personal stunts. He ought to be sitting right here. You probably did a love scene with him.
De Pablo: [Laughs] No, that was absolutely you. My fact is I’m so grateful, as a result of who will get the prospect to work with their very, superb buddy on one thing that they actually, really care about, that they’ve been conjuring up for years and years? Michael and I spent a number of time speaking throughout the pandemic—we manifested this years in the past.
All I heard was “love scene.”
De Pablo: Lots of that romance is going on previously. The viewers will get a glimpse of what occurred in flashbacks. At first, Ziva thinks [the relationship] is completed. In flashbacks, we discover how they get collectively and the place the communication broke down. These two tales are occurring on the identical time.
Weatherly: The B storyline is how Tony and Ziva handled the obstacles they’d earlier than them, the belief points, and every little thing else. Are we going to co-parent? That’s the basis of it.
Ziva faking her personal demise on NCIS will need to have created a number of belief points.
De Pablo: It comes from that, but additionally from her being sincere with herself. Ziva has lived realities inside realities. They’re additionally survival mechanisms. There have been years the place she had Tali, after which she was gone. We nonetheless don’t know precisely what occurred. That may unfold. There’s this concept that the previous comes again, and he or she offers with that in remedy. We all know she was in a world of ache. They’re each infinitely wounded. They do love one another and try to determine it out. There’s a number of warmth, passionate arguments, passionate scenes.
Weatherly: Sure, the alternative of affection shouldn’t be hate.
De Pablo: It’s indifference. He’s all the time telling me this.
Marcell Piti / Paramount+
Is it steamier on a streamer than on CBS?
De Pablo: So, that is Paramount+. It’s a distinct exploration of romance. There’s a glimpse of our bodies. There’s a making love scene. There may be an exploration of physicality, which hasn’t actually occurred earlier than.
Weatherly: It’s a little bit R [rated] right here.
Which was your most memorable romantic scene to shoot on this new sequence?
De Pablo: It’s a flashback, this romantic date, candlelight.
Weatherly: My father had handed away the day earlier than, so it was Friday morning. Thursday night time I stayed up all night time, and—
I’m so sorry.
Weatherly: It’s life, proper? It’s 8 o’clock within the morning. I’ve slept two hours. I’d’ve had a really massive bottle of wine the night time earlier than. Cote came visiting and gave me a giant hug when she discovered the night time earlier than. I felt very taken care of.
De Pablo: He wasn’t with household. He was overseas. And impulsively, he simply will get a cellphone name. So, what do you do? You don’t have your spouse, your youngsters, no sister, nothing.
Weatherly: Yeah, you’re alone. That may be a little bit heady to take a seat with that sort of a loss with out being round individuals. So the following day we’re doing the scene and I believe that is my alternative to point out Ziva that I’m not going to be on eggshells round her, and that I’m going to point out her that I run my very own firm, I’ve been the daddy to Tali for 4 years, and grown into a person. He’s saying, “I received you. You might be protected.” Very completely different than DiNozzo within the squad room getting slapped on the again of the pinnacle and operating round looking for everybody’s approval.
De Pablo: It’s a seduction scene. He’s nonetheless charming and humorous.
What are the probabilities they’ll get passionate within the present-day timeline, too?
De Pablo: There’s an attraction that she’s making an attempt to maintain at bay. It’s complicated for her, and he or she’s denying it your complete time. “I can’t permit him to see what I really feel as a result of I don’t know what he feels.” He begins taking a look at her in another way, she begins taking a look at Tony in another way. She begins being bodily affected by what’s occurring to her.
Weatherly: In a single scene, we share the mattress…
De Pablo: In these little moments, you form of betray your self, and impulsively, your fact may be very uncovered. You’re feeling very seen and bare, and for those who’re not prepared to point out that, it could develop into a really weak second. What if the opposite particular person doesn’t really feel that means?
Scott McDermott
You’ve each lived a number of life because you final performed Tony and Ziva. How does that have an effect on your strategy to the characters?
De Pablo: They’re making an attempt to be adults however having a tricky time coping with communication. Michael and I are older, and we’ve executed our fair proportion of making an attempt to speak to one another and in life. We have now that data, and we convey it to the present. I had develop into a mom in actual life. After which we had been taking part in that I used to be a mom, which we had by no means performed earlier than on the mothership.
Weatherly: We received collectively within the very first scene, which was within the Italian protected home. We had been coming in and casing the room. Two issues occurred on the identical time. One was
I knew precisely what she was going to do and what I used to be going to do. However there was a brand new function inside Cote’s demeanor; there was this unique approach of sunshine. I didn’t understand [why] till later. I used to be like, oh, she’s a mom. I’m assembly the mom. The mom was all the time there, however now the mom is the mom. I used to be in a position to see that facet of Cote that I had blinders to. We’re mother and father in actual life, however we’re now taking part in them. This can be a present about belief at its core. We have now needed to belief many elements of this [series]. The characters are exploring this theme.
What are Tony and Ziva like as mother and father?
De Pablo: [The fight] by no means leaves Ziva. It’s been ingrained in her. Unconsciously, she’s doing the identical factor to her child, and it’s what she doesn’t wish to do. She by no means desires her child to observe in her footsteps, however her paranoia seeps in. As a mom, you don’t ever wish to mess it up. Nobody offers you a brochure. You
strive your greatest, however your insecurities pop up. Your ghosts, fears, and traumas catch up.
Weatherly: At a screening, the entire theater laughed as a result of I am going, “That was me being humorous dad. Now I’m being critical dad.” Tali says, “It’s good to fulfill you.”
How was it for Isla to step in because the daughter of those two powerhouse mother and father?
Weatherly: Isla is probably the most unimaginable.
De Pablo: She’s just like the nonetheless Yoda. She’s a outstanding youthful human as a result of there’s this ageless high quality about her. She’s smart past her years. And it so occurs she’s our baby. I used to be like, actually? This got here from us? She’s a outstanding creature.
This can be a very completely different world from the one in NCIS. How else is it in contrast to that present?
Weatherly: We’re not taking DNA proof all the way down to the mass spectrometer in order that it may be analyzed after which dropped at post-mortem, the place somebody can provide a protracted oration.
De Pablo: It doesn’t stay within the system it lived in earlier than. We had been within the characters not endlessly dwelling inside the confines of an company. We wished to discover the connection.
Marcell Piti/Paramount+
Do you need to watch NCIS to know the present?
De Pablo: When this got here round, it was an ode to the fandom. For them, there was nothing to elucidate. It was characters they’ve cherished for a very long time. They’re all the time asking, “Did they ever get again collectively?”
Weatherly: Is there an ostrich someplace pulling their head out of the sand, going, “What’s Star Trek and NCIS?”
Are there Easter eggs for followers?
Weatherly: In that protected home in Italy, there are Easter eggs but additionally stunning cinematic storytelling. In that first episode, I don’t know if it counts, however I say, “On it, boss,” to her.
De Pablo: We make references to the mothership.
Weatherly: We all know who the brand new Gibbs is.
De Pablo: Oh, come on!
Who’s the boss, actually?
De Pablo: That is humorous as a result of Michael and I’ve talked about this. At one level, individuals had been like, “Oh, nicely, however who’s [in charge]?” I mentioned, “Look, there isn’t any Ziva with out Tony, and there’s no Tony with out Ziva.” He’s my primary, and I ought to be hopefully his primary. They must be taught to prioritize one another. That’s sort of the present.
Weatherly: It’s a level nicely made. When communication isn’t going nicely, if there’s a lack of belief, that turns into a query of dominance. It turns into about energy. It turns into, “You weren’t there, and I used to be parenting.” It turns into about resentment. That’s actually cool grown-up stuff, but it surely’s additionally tremendous cool. Depraved superior. Wham, bam. Flash bang!
Sounds explosive sufficient for a Season 2. Will there be one?
Weatherly: If there are future seasons, there are 1,000,000 tales to inform. The added complexity of this extraordinary Tali—it will be fascinating to see what a 16-year-old little Ziva monster is. Can we shoot in Japan? Let’s go.
De Pablo: I’d reasonably stay in what’s occurring. We’re doing every little thing with respect and love and pouring our hearts into it. This has been a dream of ours for a very long time.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Collection Premiere, Thursday, September 4 (three episodes), Paramount+
For a deep-dive into all issues Tony, Ziva, and NCIS, from unique interviews to retrospectives and must-see images, choose up a replica of TV Information Journal’s NCIS: Tony & Ziva particular concern, accessible for buy on-line at TIVA.TVGM2025.com and on newsstands August 22.