'NCIS' Season 17: Cote de Pablo Speaks out About What Ziva Has Been Doing for 5 Years

Cote de Pablo's Ziva David may have been absent from NCIS for years, but she has a few ideas about what her character has been up to. Appearing on the Rachael Ray Show Tuesday morning, the actress addressed her character's long absence and sudden return, explaining that those missing five years are "crucial."

"I thought coming back would be fantastic, and I thought, you know, if you're going to bring me back, just make sure that you understand that the character's been gone for five years, and that obviously, whatever she's been doing these five years are crucial, meaning, if she's disappeared, if she hasn't kept in touch with anyone, if she's in an undercover mission, make that relevant to the story," she said. "Make that be complex and mysterious, so then you can draw from that to make this a riveting story."

Prior to her sudden and surprising Season 16 finale return, the actress had last appeared on NCIS in 2013, when her character was presumed dead following a mortar attack. In the years that followed, many fans believed that it would be unfathomable to ever see Ziva grace their screens as anything more than a flashback.

Things have changed, though, and now some believe that Ziva could be primed to replace Mark Harmon's Agent Gibbs as the team's lead in the upcoming 17th season. The theory, which is mostly backed by the fact that Harmon is currently signed on through the seventeenth season (meaning he may not return for Season 18) seems unlikely, however.

Currently, de Pablo is only set to return for four episodes of the upcoming season, which is set to premiere tonight. In August, NCIS co-showrunner Frank Cardea confirmed that de Pablo's episodes would air in the front-half of the season and the back-half of the season.

"There will be four episodes in this season, two early on and two fall/winter," Cardea told Parade.

Speaking with Rachael Ray, however, de Pablo was unable to give away any details regarding her four-episode character arc, as it is shrouded in secrecy.

"The first day on set, they made everyone sign nondisclosure agreements — which means no one could talk about this mystery guest they were having as an actor," she recalled. "They closed the set. Everyone was released except for these, maybe 25 people who were gonna work that tiny scene. They brought me in and literally it was like an undercover mission."

NCIS Season 17 premieres on CBS on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. ET.