The man who often put “very” in front of “Special Agent” is back in a major way in this fall’s 24th season of the procedural hit (premiering October 6). And actor Michael Weatherly credits his and Cote de Pablo‘s Paramount+ spinoff Tony & Ziva with why his Tony DiNozzo can return home to NCIS “new and improved.”
As he sees it, he’s back for two reasons. “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,” he tells us in the video interview above. “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.”
CBS
The second part is where the spinoff comes in. “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 explains.
It’s been one year since that series’ events went down in Europe. Now, DiNozzo’s looking to open a satellite office for his private security firm in D.C. “He still has lots of movie quotes and spunk and verve, but he’s also been through a pretty big learning curve,” notes Weatherly. “Rather than an instant knee-jerk reaction, he 1789416208 takes a beat and thinks. He’s had a relationship with his father [Robert Wagner]. He’s had a full arc of mentoring by Gibbs [Mark Harmon]. He’s been a father.”
DiNozzo’s stepping back into the bullpen knowing that, “for 10 years, [it’s] been working just fine and well without him,” admits Weatherly. And while most of the team is new to DiNozzo — boss Alden Parker (Gary Cole), agents Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), and scientist Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) — he’s reuniting with Tim McGee (Sean Murray) and Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen). They’ll reference the past (there will be a new Mc-nickname), but “it’s not wrapped in nostalgia,” Weatherly says.
The premiere also deals with last season’s cliffhanger: Torres saw suspicious behavior from McGee’s teen son, Mateo (Patrick Keleher), and their confrontation ended with a gunshot. You can bet DiNozzo will have something to say about that.
Watch the full video interview above for more.
NCIS, Season 24 Premiere, Tuesday, October 6, 8/7c, CBS
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