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Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo with shocked expressions in NCIS: Tony & Ziva

(Image credit: Paramount+)

When Cote de Pablo joined NCIS at the beginning of Season 3 in 2006 to play Ziva David, it didn’t take long for fans to embrace Ziva’s ‘will they, won’t they’ dynamic with Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo and eventually ship them as Tiva. Now, we’re just weeks away from seeing these two paired back together onscreen for the first time in over a decade thanks to NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s impending premiere on the 2025 TV schedule. However, before de Pablo signed onto the Paramount+ subscription-exclusive spinoff, she had one request for Weatherly about Tony and Ziva’s relationship was going to be handled.

In addition to being on the NCIS: Tony & Ziva panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where topics like how the spinoff will welcome newcomers and the touching statement Michael Weatherly made when filming ended, the actors also spoke with a variety of press outlets during the event, include ScreenRant. During that interview, Cote de Pablo was asked if she wanted Tony and Ziva to get together while making this new show or if she preferred them continuing to be a “slow burn” ship. The actress answered:

I like the slow burn. And I love the idea that Michael’s referred to these two characters as star-crossed lovers. It’s sort of like they always want to and something always happens and things get complicated and it can’t work. There was one thing that I told Michael. I said, ‘I’m not interested in telling the story if, in the end, there is not some sort of happy something. ‘Cause I think they deserve a… But before we get to that, we, again have to earn it. So we’re going to see them go through a lot of stuff.

The last time Tony and Ziva were seen together in NCIS, they shared a kiss before the former went back to the United States and the latter stayed in Israel. That happened in Season 11’s second episode, and then in the Season 13 finale, viewers learned these two had indeed slept together too with the introduction of their daughter, Tali. But we never actually got to see Tony and Ziva enter into a committed relationship, and Cote de Pablo hasn’t minded that these characters have never been able to properly come together.

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That said, she did make it clear to Michael Weatherly that she would only agree to be in NCIS: Tony & Ziva if there was some kind of positive resolution with what’s been going on between these two for all these years. It was indicated in the Tony & Ziva trailer that things are still complicated between these characters as they co-parent Tali, and it’s not like they’ll be paired back together romantically by the time the premiere is over. Still, for those who’ve been shipping Tony and Ziva all these years, you can now look forward to some kind of positive payoff on this front by the time the season (perhaps the series?) is over.

This new journey for the NCIS fan-favorites will begin when NCIS: Tony & Ziva premieres its first three episodes on Thursday, September 4. Considering how popular this procedural franchise is and how the spinoff’s trailer broke a major Paramount+ record, it’s safe to say there are a lot of people invested in what’s next for Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, and if they’ll get their happily ever after.