‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ Stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo Share What They’re Most Excited for Fans to See in New Spinoff (Exclusive)

NCIS: Tony & Ziva is just days away, and Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo spoke to PopCulture.com about what the fans should look out for.

The first three episodes of the new NCIS spinoff premiere on Thursday on Paramount+.

Also starring Amita Suman, Maximilian Osinski, Lara Rossi, Isla Gie, Nassima Benchicou, Terence Maynard, Julian Ovenden, and James D’Arcy, Tony & Ziva sees Weatherly and de Pablo’s fan-favorite titular characters raising their tween daughter Tali in Paris together. After Tony’s security company is attacked, they have to go on the run across Europe, “try to figure out who is after them, and maybe even learn to trust each other again so they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after.”

Fans have been waiting to see Tony and Ziva, affectionately known as “Tiva,” together for years. They haven’t been on screen together since the beginning of Season 11 of NCIS over 11 years ago. Weatherly has teased possible reunions over the years, so when it was finally announced last year that Paramount+ was developing a new show centered on the two, people were appropriately happy. Just from the looks of the trailer, fans will be in for a treat, and de Pablo told PopCulture she has “a lot of favorite moments” that she’s excited for fans to see, especially when it comes to her scene partner.

“I think there’s a vulnerability that I will talk about in the character of Tony, beautifully played by Michael, which is very interesting because we’ve always explored masculinity through different ways,” she explained. “And to me, there’s nothing more masculine in a way than being able to see real vulnerability. So there’s the integration of everything that people love from the old Tony, which is the funny, the sexy, the gentleman, the movie references, the self-deprecation, all of that stuff. That’s all very much there.”

“But then you get to meet a version of Tony, which has now gone through a lot in this emotional arc,” de Pablo continued. “It’s been 20 years. He’s been faced with this great big challenge of sort of having to raise this little girl that he didn’t know he had, and everything that comes with that sort of emotion. So there’s a beauty in this that you’ll see that the fans will be so moved by. And I love that.”

Aside from Tony’s charm and vulnerability, de Pablo expressed that NCIS: Tony & Ziva is filled to the brim with action and romance, noting there are “moments, of course, of romance in Episodes 3 and 4 that I love.” She continued, “Moments of action in Episodes 5 and 6, which are fantastic. Also moments with Tali in Episodes 5 and 6, which I think the audience will love because they’ll really get to hone in on, ‘Oh my God. This kid is really Tony and Ziva’s kid. Like, they’re undeniably… that’s their kid.’ You know? And then you get a lot of thriller suspense in 7 and 8 and a sort of resolution in 9 and 10, big, big, big episodes with explosions and all sorts of things, which I mean, they’re all very, very different, and it’s quite a ride.”

As for Weatherly, the one thing he was most excited for fans to experience through the series is that even if “you’ve never seen the show before, if you have no idea what the universe of NCIS is about, I think that it’s a show about hope, and we need that. I think that’s a good human place to start. They never give up. They have hope in their hearts.”

There will be a lot to look forward to when NCIS: Tony & Ziva premieres, and the wait is almost over. The first three episodes drop on Thursday on Paramount+, with new episodes releasing weekly.