Weatherly and Cote de Pablo joined EW at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, where their characters’ big reunion in the “NCIS” spinoff.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva star Michael Weatherly had to relive ‘angry moment’ in flashback episode: ‘That was scary’**

Weatherly and Cote de Pablo joined EW at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, where their characters' big reunion in the "NCIS" spinoff.

By Ryan Coleman

on July 24, 2025 08:05PM EDT

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Michael Weatherly is traveling back to the past for the upcoming *NCIS* spinoff series, *NCIS: Tony & Ziva*. But not every memory is a happy one.

Weatherly and his trusty television partner in crime (and, sometimes, love), Cote de Pablo, stopped by the EW Studio at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 to discuss the series, which premieres on Paramount+ in September.

De Pablo, who starred on *NCIS *as Ziva David from season 3-11 (with a handful of subsequent appearances in seasons 11, 16, and 17), recalled a powerful moment she witnessed Weatherly have while filming the final episode of *Tony & Ziva*. "It was this flashback where we had to sort of relive this very kind of angry moment, and there was a take that Michael had where he really kind of connected with something," she recalls.

Cote de Pablo as Ziva David, Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo and Isla Gie as Tali on 'NCIS: Tony & Ziva'.

Marcell Piti/Paramount+

"I went up to him afterwards and I said, 'Oh my God, Michael, that was scary!' And he said, 'I don't like going to that place,'" de Pablo says. "It was really funny because now I'm talking to my friend... he was like, 'God it takes so much out of me, I'm sort of older and wiser and I just don't like going to that place,' and I was like, 'Oh boy, I can relate.'"

Weatherly appeared on *NCIS *for a longer stint than de Pablo, from seasons 1-15 (2003-2015). His Tony DiNozzo fell in and out of an always ambiguous, but highly charged relationship with Ziva until her character was seemingly killed off screen. The character survived, however, and returned in subsequent seasons to reveal she'd had their baby, Tali (Isla Gie on *Tony & Ziva*).

Cote de Pablo as Ziva David and Michael Weatherly as Tony Dinozzo for 'NCIS: Tony & Ziva'.

Marcell Piti/Paramount+

While there were plenty of tender, touching, powerful, and romantic scenes between the characters, they had their fair share of breakups and crash-outs too. Weatherly explains that while the moment he revisited was indeed "angry," he's better at controlling his emotions these days.

"In life, as we all understand through our therapy, you can choose your state. Your emotional state can be a choice," he shares. "When you're young you kind of think, 'I'm having this emotion, and it must determine everything I do.' And its like, 'Slow your horses.'"

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Weatherly says he's learned over the course of his three and a half decades in show business that, "You can actually make choices about the kind of life you want to live. When you're acting, a big part of that happens, and that's the great thing about 20 years later, because we are acting together, but it's a deeper, richer, more nuanced bond."

"Exactly, and it's a real testament to our friendship," de Pablo agrees.

Paramount+ announced *Tony & Ziva* in February, nine years after Weatherly's departure, over a decade since de Pablo's, and five since the actors' last shared episode of *NCIS*, the season 17 episode "In the Wind."

May's first trailer for *NCIS: Tony & Ziva *picks up on the characters in Paris, where they're co-parenting Tali in a state of enduringly ambiguous almost-romance. Then, Tony's security company is hacked, leading to a thrilling espionage caper in which the couple must enlist the help of new friends to clear their names and secure their happy ending once more.****

Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo, Maximilian Osinski as Boris, and Cote de Pablo as Ziva David on 'NCIS: Tony & Ziva'.

Marcell Piti/Paramount+

John McNamara, the showrunner behind Syfy's *The Magicians*, will helm *NCIS: Tony & Ziva*. Joining de Pablo and Weatherly in the cast are Amita Suman, Maximilian Osinski, Julian Ovenden, Nassima Benchicou, Lara Rossi, Isla Gie, Terence Maynard, and James D'Arcy.

The first three episodes of *NCIS: Tony & Ziva *premiere Sept. 4 on Paramount+, with new episodes to follow weekly.**

Watch de Pablo and Weatherly in the livestream above and check out more of EW's coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025.

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