Cote de Pablo Says “Divine Timing” Made Series Happen

Cote de Pablo poses during a promotional tour of “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, 2025 in San Diego, California.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Paramount+

For nearly two decades, fans of NCIS have been captivated by the electric chemistry and slow-burn romance between Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David that sparked the worldwide “TIVA” movement. And now, they’ll get a chance to find out what happened to the couple when NCIS: Tony & Ziva premieres September 4.

“It felt like a dream,” Cote de Pablo says of the long-awaited onscreen reunion with her NCIS partner Michael Weatherly. “Never in a million years would you think that 19 years afterwards, you’d be revisiting something that was so special to you. It’s exciting to be able to answer the questions of so many fans, but it’s also exciting to work with my friend again.”

Ahead of the debut of the new Paramount+ original series that revives the beloved characters, the Chilean-American actress shares how the stars’​ desire to work together again and their determination fueled the project that took nearly a decade to become reality.

“The universe conspired, and we found ourselves in this incredible adventure abroad, stepping back into these shoes that we love dearly,” she says.

That adventure takes them away from NCIS headquarters to Europe, where the series plunges Tony and Ziva into a world of international intrigue and espionage, delivering both closure and a fresh start for the franchise’s iconic characters.

“We knew that if we took the show abroad and if we really wanted to put our energies into exploring the relationship between Tony and Ziva, they couldn’t live within the agency,” says de Pablo. “It doesn’t mean that they don’t talk about their friends or go back and make references about characters, because I think those characters will always be a part of Tony and Ziva….But in order to give the storyline some action and challenge, you have to throw them into complex situations, and there’s plenty to draw from.”

Tony & Ziva’s “Divine Timing” Journey

Bringing Tony & Ziva to life was a journey marked by “divine timing,” says de Pablo, referencing the hurdles and life changes that got in the way. “It took a while. We met with important people at Paramount and CBS… and then of course, Michael did a show for a very long time. And so I had to wait for my partner to be done with that.”

She’s referring to Weatherly’s six-year commitment with his CBS series Bull. Meanwhile, de Pablo ​explored working on her “life goals,” which included doing things that were important to her. She became a mother and focused on raising her ​s​on. The pandemic further delayed their plans.

“It’s the timing that is the right timing, not on your clock. Michael and I always believed it would happen, and when it did, it was perfect.”

The streaming format proved crucial in shaping the story and the relationship dynamics.

“We can explore the characters in a different way. Had we been able to do this years ago​, I don’t think it would have lived in the same world or given us the freedom that we find ourselves having today.​”

That freedom is at the heart of the new series. Unlike the procedural structure of the original NCIS, Tony & Ziva breaks away from the case-of-the-week formula to focus on character and the complex realities of Tony and Ziva’s lives.

“We wanted to sort of shake it up a bit,” says de Pablo. “We wanted to answer the fan questions: What happened to these people? How are they doing? Where are they living? Are they co-parenting? How is their child? We had to explore quite a complex world in order to really answer that. And that was a big creative challenge for our showrunner, John McNamara, who I think has done a beautiful job keeping the action, the romance and all of that going.”

To achieve this, McNamara uses flashbacks to weave past and present together to fill in the gaps in the couple’s lives, acknowledging the NCIS origins while making it an independent story. The evolution of Tony and Ziva is central to the show’s appeal.

“They have a child, they’re trying to co-parent and communicate, even when it’s hard…feelings come up that complicate things for these two people,” de Pablo says. “That’s what fans really want… to see that chemistry, what happened between them. They had something special and…they still do.”

Personal Growth Fuels Creative Vision

For de Pablo, who is now a mother herself, portraying Ziva as a parent brought new depth to the role.

“Everything changes. You understand things from a primal standpoint.” She points out that now, Ziva isn’t just fighting bad guys. She’s fighting for her child. “Tony, Ziva, and Tali are a unit, a family, and I think that’s the beauty of the show. At the end of the day, it’s a love story, but it’s also about people who need to be there for their child.”

Tony & Ziva also marks de Pablo’s first time as an executive producer, a role she shares with Weatherly.

“It’s been organic, because we’ve been living with these characters for such a long time,” she says about taking a hands-on role in the creative process, including the casting of the show. “That part was so much fun. And you approach it with such a level of compassion because as an actor, you’ve been there.” She also enjoyed brainstorming and sharing ideas with the team. “By the time we were in episode four and five, Michael and I were in the thick of it. We were shooting and every day making it work and being there for the cast.”

The spinoff has generated significant buzz after it was first announced in 2024. The first look trailer has attracted over 8 million views since its release May 5.​ And the official trailer that dropped just a month ago has racked up more than 7.2 million. Rather than setting expectations​ for the show, ​d​e Pablo focuses on gratitude for the opportunity.

“It was healing and…like a dream,” she says of the first season. “We got to revisit these characters. We got to be a part of the creative journey… and we got to meet all of these people that became a part of this new family that we’ve created….We feel so grateful to just be able to say, hey, we had this idea many years ago and it came to fruition.”

Tony & Ziva — a 10-episode series — is the latest installment in the global NCIS franchise that boasts over 300 million viewers across all platforms. The new spinoff debuts with three episodes on September 4, followed by weekly Thursday releases through the October 23 finale.

You can check out the interview with Cote de Pablo here.