Paramount’s NCIS spinoff centered around two fan-favorite characters from "NCIS", Tony DiNozzo, played by Michael Weatherly, and Ziva David, portrayed by Cote de Pablo, has received a title.
Weatherly and de Pablo, who will reunite on screen for the first time in 10 years, got on Zoom to unveil the moniker of the offshoot Tuesday.
After referencing a couple of floated titles "NCIS: Europe" and "NCIS: Trust No One", the two stars of the Europe-set series announced that the official title of their new show is "NCIS: Tony & Ziva".
“It makes it really easy because the fans will know exactly what the show is. It’s about Tony and Ziva in Europe. I expect intrigue, romance, a background of Europe, impossible situations that will make our life very complicated but somehow a little something about love,” de Pablo said.
"NCIS: Europe", the action-packed spinoff, will follow Tony (Weatherly) and Ziva (de Pablo) as they find themselves on the run across the continent.
On the mothership NCIS series, after Ziva’s (de Pablo) believed death, Tony left the NCIS team to raise their daughter Tali. However, Ziva was discovered alive years later, leading her to complete one final mission with NCIS before she was reunited with Tony and their daughter in Paris.
The couple's peaceful life gets interrupted when Tony’s security company is attacked, they must go on the run across Europe, trying to figure out who is after them and maybe even learn to trust each other again so that they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after.
Principal photography on the series — the second extension of the NCIS franchise beyond the U.S. after "NCIS: Sydney" — is slated to begin this summer in Budapest. John McNamara is the writer/showrunner.
De Pablo, Weatherly, and McNamara executive produce the spinoff series alongside Laurie Lieser, Christina Strain and Shelley Meals. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
NCIS is one of the most valuable franchises and its expansion has been a goal for the CBS Studios. This is one of two new NCIS offshoots greenlighted this year, along with the Young Gibbs prequel series for CBS, "NCIS: Origins".
It is also the second extension of the NCIS franchise beyond the U.S., following "NCIS: Sydney", which has been airing on CBS in the U.S.
Weatherly, an original NCIS cast member, had been with the series since its launch in 2003. He left after 13 seasons and went on to headline another CBS/CBS Studios drama, "Bull".
Speculation about his potential return to NCIS picked up after Bull ended its run last spring. He recently did a surprise cameo in the Ducky tribute episode of the mothership series.
De Pablo joined NCIS in Season 3. She starred in 3 seasons through 10 and exited the series early in Season 11.
In the Season 13 finale, it was revealed that Ziva apparently had died in an explosion in Israel. She returned three years later in 2019, where it was revealed she was alive and had gone into hiding.
She made a surprise unannounced return in the last scene of the season 16 finale, which aired on May 21, 2019, in which Ziva arrives at Gibbs’ basement to warn him that his life is in danger.
Ziva later appeared in the first two episodes of the show’s 17th season and in that season’s 10th and 11th episodes as part of her storyline.
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