NCIS season 18 is returning later this year. But has one of the stars of the CBS series confirmed a potential Ziva return?
NCIS ended its previous season’s storyline about Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo) with her reuniting off-screen with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly). However, many fans thought this was a disappointing end to her time on the show and were left wondering if she would be back. Now CBS has dropped a major hint she could be returning at the beginning of season 18.
Will Ziva return in NCIS ‘backward’ time jump?
The new season of NCIS will begin again on CBS in November and will pick up with some of the unaired episodes from season 17.
TV Line has also now confirmed details of the opening episodes, which will resolve a previous plot hole.
Viewers might recall how in the season 17 episode Musical Chairs, Agent Leroy Gibbs (Mark Harmon) went off the grid.
He disappeared off to complete a mission before returning at the end of the outing with a black eye, which was never explained.
Now, this will air over the first few episodes of season 18 as viewers find out what he was up to.
Speaking during the publication’s autumn preview, co-showrunner Steve Binder revealed more about this.
He said: “We had an episode last year called Musical Chairs, where Gibbs disappears from the squad room to go on a mission, and then he shows up at the end of the episode with a black eye.
“We are going to pick up season 18 with that mission that Gibbs was on, back in time.”
He then explained this will mean they will be in “a pre-COVID world for a little while,” around November or December 2019.
Fans will be excited by the change of format and a chance to see Gibbs more in action.
However, it could also mark the return of a fan-favourite Ziva to the show given the proposed timeline.
Viewers will remember how she returned in season 17 of the CBS series to warn Gibbs of an upcoming threat.
As fans will know, around the time of Gibbs’ mysterious mission, Ziva was still around.
Her last episode was the 2020 outing In The Wind so viewers might be wondering if Gibbs and Ziva will cross paths again.
The idea of her returning hasn’t been ruled out by executive producer Gina Lucita Monreal.
She told Parade previously: “We loved the Ziva character going very deep, and so, it was such an honour to get to revisit that story and tie up some of the loose ends that we had, and it was such an honour to get to work with Cote again.
“If there’s more story to tell, I’m the first to jump on board.
“I love that character, and I hope that it showed through those episodes.”
As well as this, fans were hoping to see her reunite in person with Tony, rather than just a rumoured reconciliation.
Michael Weatherly also fueled the flames of this by hinting on Twitter how there was more to the story.
He tweeted on February 20: “Hi. The thing to remember about DiNozzo Sr is that he is extremely gullible.
“Most Con-Men are. You didn’t see a family reunion happen (or a long-ago death happen!)… so maybe it didn’t happen?”
Therefore, it seems there is definitely a possibility fans have not seen the end of Ziva in the show.
All will be revealed when the show finally returns with new episodes later this year.
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