Ta-ta, Tiva: The “NCIS” story of Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo and Ziva David ends here, at least for now. Paramount+ and CBS Studios announced Friday that “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” has been cancelled after one season, and won’t be back for a Season 2.
The “NCIS” spinoff starred Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, reuniting as their fan favorite “NCIS” characters for a new series taking place around a decade after they and their characters left the series mother ship.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to play these characters once again and to tell the next chapter of Tony and Ziva’s story,” Weatherly and de Pablo said in a joint statement. “Our deepest thanks go to our extraordinary cast, crew, writers, directors, and producers, and to our partners at CBS Studios and Paramount+ who helped make this dream a reality. But most of all, we want to thank the fans around the world who joined us on this adventure and finally got to see Tony and Ziva find their happily ever after.”
The 10-episode spinoff series debuted on Sept. 4 and opened solid for the streamer — but then saw a rapid 51% drop-off across the first three episodes, according to Luminate data.
In his review of the show, Variety‘s Chris Willman — who covered “NCIS” for much of its early run — raved that it was the best of the many “NCIS” spinoff shows. “Certainly none of the others have tried like this one does, let alone succeeded, at recapturing the overriding wit that set ‘NCIS’ apart from all the other procedurals when it came into its own in its salad days in the 2000s,” Willman wrote. “At last, it’s a take on the show that doesn’t shrink away from the fact that 90% of the audience is there for the relationships, not the murder-of-the-week.”
Along with de Pablo and Weatherly, “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” starred Amita Suman, Maximilian Osinski, Julian Ovenden, Nassima Benchicou, Lara Rossi, Isla Gie, Terence Maynard and James D’Arcy.
Here’s the logline for the show, which remains available on Paramount+: “‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ picks up after Ziva’s supposed death when Tony left the NCIS team to go raise their daughter. Years later, Ziva was discovered alive, leading her to complete one final mission with NCIS before she was reunited with Tony and their daughter in Paris. Since then – and where we find them in ‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ — Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter, Tali, together. When Tony’s security company is attacked, they must 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.”
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Weatherly first began playing Tony on “NCIS” when it launched in 2003, and he left as a regular cast member after Season 13 in 2016. As for de Pablo, she first appeared in Season 3 and left full time after Season 11 in 2014.
John McNamara served as series showrunner and executive producer. EPs also included de Pablo, Weatherly, Laurie Lieser, Christina Strain, Shelley Meals, and Mairzee Almas. The series comes from CBS Studios.
From Variety US