“Ziva NCIS” is top of mind this week because Cote de Pablo called making the Paramount+ spinoff “very healing” while speaking at New York Comic Con on Thursday, October 9, 2025. She and Michael Weatherly executive produced the first season of NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which concludes on Thursday, October 23, 2025. “We both simultaneously said it was very healing,” de Pablo said, adding that the reunion finally let them “explore” things the original run never could.
Weatherly teased that fans will “feel some of the original recipe” in the capper “because Dennis Smith is directing it.” He added that Smith “went deeper than ever went before, and went into blue areas.”
Why fans care (and what the stars said)
De Pablo reflected on the bond with the new ensemble: “You start having moments that make you laugh. And then before you know it, you become a family.” She also recalled leaving the main series in 2013 as “a really sad day,” telling Weatherly he’d been “a great partner” and “teacher.”
Release date & where to watch
The Season 1 finale, “Full Circle,” drops on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 3:00 a.m. ET (12:00 a.m. PT) on Paramount+. It is Episode 10 of the season.
What the stars revealed at NYCC
Weatherly contrasted the spinoff with the mothership: “In a procedural, there’s only so much time we’ve got to solve the crime. So we wanted to investigate the emotions… We also wanted to do a little bit more with the action, which I think is pretty kick a–.” De Pablo spotlighted new allies: “We met them, we liked them, and then we loved them… little by little, you start having moments that you laugh and then before you know it, you become a little bit of a family.”
Episode 9: the 9-year “Tiva” theory that finally landed
Episode 9 revisits the long-simmering question of whether Tony DiNozzo ever processed Ziva David’s faked death and the secret of Tali’s birth. Collider’s recap explains how Season 1, Episode 9 addresses that emotional debt after “eight tumultuous episodes,” framing Tony’s response as overdue but earned.
That write-up notes Tony’s conflicting feelings when he first learned about Ziva’s “death” and Tali’s existence, then moved to give his daughter “the best life possible” away from danger. The Episode 9 scene gives his arc “the weight that Ziva’s was given in the first few episodes,” with Weatherly’s performance making the moment “resonate.”
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Episode 10: ‘Full Circle’ setup
Preview notes flag Jonah as “one step closer to completing his nefarious plan,” with Martine, Tony, and Ziva in his way. First-look images credit photographer Marcell Piti and show Julian Ovenden as Jonah, Max Osinski as Boris, Amita Suman as Claudette, Lara Rossi as Sophie, and Isla Gie as Tali alongside Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly.
Flashback wedding guest list: who made the cut
Season 1, Episode 8 (“Fire Sale”) used flashbacks to reveal the couple’s clashing expectations and, crucially, their wedding guest list. First on the board were family and current-series regulars: Tali David‑DiNozzo, Sophie, Henry (played by James D’Arcy), and Claudette. Then came Tony’s father and a roll call of NCIS vets: Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Tim McGee, Delilah McGee and twins Johnny and Morgan, Abby Sciuto, Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Leon Vance, Tobias Fornell, Eleanor Bishop, and Nick Torres.
The episode context sets the scene in November 2020, when Tony and Ziva were planning a wedding, and the flashbacks aired on Thursday, October 9. In the present-day story, the pair started the season broken up and are slowly finding their way back, with Tali not entirely on board.
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Cast & creators callout
- Cote de Pablo — Ziva David; executive producer; NYCC panelist.
- Michael Weatherly — Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo; executive producer; NYCC panelist.
- Dennis Smith — Finale director; long-time NCIS and NCIS: LA helmer.
- Amita Suman — Claudette Caron.
- Maximilian Osinski — Boris.
- Isla Gie — Tali.
- James D’Arcy — Henry.
- Mark Harmon — Leroy Jethro Gibbs (potential cameo idea).
- Julian Ovenden — Jonah
- Lara Rossi — Sophie
A cameo fans would “love” — straight from Weatherly
Asked about dream guest stars in an Instagram video posted on October 15, Weatherly said: “I’ll start with Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I would love to just be walking down the street with Tali [Isla Gie] and this man coming the other way just gives Tony a head slap… And then Tony just goes, ‘Thank you, boss,’… ‘We used to work together.’” The clip and write‑up ran on October 16, 2025 at 12:57 PM EDT.
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Premiere date and storyline recap
The spinoff premiered on September 4 on Paramount+. Tony operates a security firm, Ziva runs an international school in Paris, and once his work endangers the family, the trio must run across Europe. They eventually reunite as a couple and make plans to marry.
How the Episode 9 reveal sets up the finale
By resolving a 9‑year emotional rift in Episode 9, the show positions Tony and Ziva to face the finale with fewer secrets. The NYCC panel pointed to a tonal callback to classic NCIS under Dennis Smith. If the closing hour blends that “original recipe” with Season 1’s family‑first pace, expect a choice that tests the couple’s rebuilt trust — and, if the dates shake out to October 23 rather than Oct. 16, a week more of fan speculation.
Bottom line for fans searching “Ziva NCIS”
Ziva NCIS viewers tracking the New NCIS spinoff series “Tony & Ziva” airs on Paramount+ have concrete details to hold: the NYCC quotes about direction and tone, a full wedding guest list from Episode 8, and a clear Episode 9 pivot that finally answers a 9‑year question — with one spicy Gibbs cameo idea waiting in the wings.
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