In 2016, Weatherly departed the flagship NCIS after 13 seasons on the main cast. Then in September 2025, a little over a year and a half after he made a surprise cameo in NCIS’s David McCallum tribute episode, the actor returned to playing Tony DiNozzo in a regular capacity on NCIS: Tony & Ziva. The Paramount+-exclusive spinoff ultimately only lasted one season, but that didn’t deter him from returning to NCIS for a new story arc.
In an interview with TV Insider, Weatherly explained that there are two reasons he agreed to reprising Tony in NCIS season 24. The first revolves around the NCIS-centric programming block that CBS has assembled for Tuesday nights this fall, as the original show will be followed by the new spinoff NCIS: New York, and then NCIS: Origins season 3. Weatherly welcomed joining fellow NCIS franchise heavyweights like Mark Harmon and LL Cool J in entertaining viewers for the 2025-2026 TV schedule, explaining:
One is just in purely practical terms, I think CBS is building an incredible Tuesday night. You have LL Cool J and Scott Caan and the rest of the cast they’ve put together [on] NCIS: New York. Then you have Mark Harmon returning to on camera in a regular way in Origins, which is going to be just a huge resonant thunderclap to fans. … If you look at Mark Harmon is the OG and LL Cool J is the OG before there were OG, I’m just happy that they invited me to this party.
Secondly, Weatherly felt that Tony’s character development in NCIS: Tony & Ziva was worth expanding upon, hence why the character will recur in NCIS season 24, which was announced at the beginning of August. The actor explained:
NCIS: Tony & Ziva gave us a window into the emotional, paternal, responsible, mature side of DiNozzo. We got to see him running a company. We got to see him being a father and making decisions where he was not just ego-driven, but he was thinking about not just saving the world from an evil bad guy, but also saving his family from the disruption and the chaos that we all encounter in our lives.
Weatherly’s comments follow NCIS showrunner Steven Binder revealing that Tony returns to Washington D.C. to set up a “satellite office” for his private security firm. While getting that handled, the character “gets word of something happening with NCIS, and he's interested about it.” This leads to Tony reuniting with Sean Murray’s Timothy McGee and Brian Dietzen’s Jimmy Palmer, and meeting Wilmer Valderrama’s Nick Torres, Katrina Law’s Jessica Knight, Gary Cole’s Alden Parker, and Diona Reasoner’s Kasie Hines for the first time.
Despite NCIS: Tony & Ziva ending with the titular characters getting back together romantically, de Pablo will not reprise Ziva David in NCIS season 24. Instead, Ziva will be in Boston keeping an eye on their daughter Tali, who was played by Isla Gie in the short-lived spinoff, as she starts boarding school. The Season 24 premiere will also explore the fallout from the shootout between Torres and McGee’s son in the season 23 finale, as well as a new threat to the Secretary of the Navy.
NCIS season 24 premieres Tuesday, October 6 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Cast
Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, Rocky Carroll, Brian Dietzen, Wilmer Valderrama
Created by
Donald P. Bellisario, Don McGill
Latest TV Show
NCIS: Sydney
Upcoming TV Shows
NCIS: Origins, NCIS: Tony & Ziva
CBS
English (US) ·