NCIS: Tony & Ziva: Everything We Know About The Streaming Spinoff

The story of former NCIS agents Tony and Ziva will continue, soon and in earnest, with the Paramount+ spinoff series aptly titled NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

The streaming offshoot was officially ordered to series in February 2024; a few months later, franchise vets and spinoff stars Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly unveiled the title, via the Instagram video below:

The title "makes it really easy, because the fans will know exactly what the show is," de Pablo noted.

"I expect intrigue, romance, the background of Europe, impossible situations that will make our lives very complicated," the actress added. But also, "a little something about love!"

Weatherly shared in April 2024 (during an appearance on an NCIS-Verse: The First 1,000 special) that he and de Pablo would be be heading to Budapest that summer to begin filming the Europe-set series, which finds Tony and Ziva "trying to raise their tween daughter," Tali, "and save the world."

Tali was introduced as a toddler in the May 2016 NCIS episode "Family First," in which Tony learned that Ziva had years prior — in early 2014, per the show's timeline — quietly given birth to their daughter.

John McNamara, whose past TV credits include co-creating Profit, Fastlane and The Magicians, penned the series' premiere and serves as showrunner. As Weatherly and de Pablo said in an early statement, "We've been talking about this story for many years, and now with John McNamara at the helm, we are ready. The world of Tony and Ziva (and daughter Tali) promises to be an action-packed roller coaster fueled by love, danger, tears and laughter."

What all do we know about the #Tiva spinoff? A lot....

As NCIS Season 11 opened, it was revealed that at the start of the four-month time jump that ended Season 10, DiNozzo had made tracks for Israel to find a disappeared Ziva. Eventually, he came to realize that Ziva was inflicting on herself a penance of sorts, for killing a childhood friend's half-brother (and other trespasses).

As the hour closed, we found Tony and Ziva at a small airport, at night, with the former set to head back home. Alone. "What will I tell people?" he asked. "That you were right," Ziva answered. "That I have to start over."

Before parting ways, Ziva started, "Tony, you are so...." "Handsome? Funny?" he quipped. Loved, she said. They shared a long, warm kiss, after which Tony walked away, shaking his head: "This is not easy... The hardest 180 of my life." Tears streamed down Ziva's cheeks, followed by a smile acknowledging a bittersweet affection, as Tony waved goodbye from the plane. (Read full recap.)

Ziva was reported dead toward the end of Season 13, killed in a bombing of the David family farmhouse in Israel. Tony understandably spiraled, to a degree that Gibbs sent him home. When DiNozzo returned to work the next day, a pint-sized bombshell awaited him, introduced by Mossad director Orli Elbaz: Tali, a daughter that Ziva had given birth to years prior, with Tony the "only biological possibility" as dad.

Tony in turn left Gibbs' team at the end of Season 13, to raise his and "dearly departed" Ziva's daughter. "I'm everything to that little girl now, and I've never been anybody's everything before," he explained to Gibbs. "You gotta do whatcha gotta do," Gibbs nodded, before delivering a rare hug.

DiNozzo said his next stop was Israel, to get some answers, and then a visit to the Paris that Ziva "loves." 

Fun fact: Weatherly and de Pablo watched that finale/sendoff together:

Three years later, de Pablo made a surprise appearance in NCIS' Season 16 finale, when Ziva showed up in Gibbs basement, saying, "No time for pleasantries — you're in danger." When Season 17 rolled around, it was revealed by a CIA operative named Odette that the late Eli David's files were never the target of the years-ago farmhouse explosion in Israel; Ziva herself was. Ziva suspected as much, and thus went deep undercover to "sift through evil in every form" and find the perpetrator. Now, Ziva explained to Gibbs, a woman named Sahar wanted her dead — and Gibbs was in the crosshairs, too! 

Ziva, GIbbs et al quickly neutralized that threat, and Ziva departed again. Midway through Season 17, she popped up again to complete one final mission before she could reunite with Tony and Tali in Paris (albeit off-camera).

Tony resurfaced via his own surprise cameo in NCIS' February 2024 Ducky/David McCallum tribute episode — seemingly solo, though Ziva and/or Tali could have simply been off-screen, also ready to head to the funeral.

As the Paramount+ series opens, Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter Tali, together (though not together), in Paris. But when Tony's security company is attacked, Tony and Ziva must go on the run across Europe, trying to figure out who is after them — and maybe even learn to trust each other again? — so that they can finally have their unconventional "happily ever after."

Weatherly and de Pablo, of course — both of whom also serve as executive producers on the spinoff.

But #Tiva needs to also have a tween daughter, plus a roster of allies/adversaries.

Isla Gie, whose previous credits include the West End's Matilda the Musical and TV's Slow Horses, plays precocious 12-year-old Tali, while British actress Lara Rossi (The Watch, Flesh and Bone) plays Sophie, Tali's SAS-trained nanny.

Additional cast includes British actress Amita Suman (Shadow and Bone, The Outpost) as Claudette, the CTO at Tony's private security company; Maximilian Osinski (Marvel's Agents of SHIELD) as Boris, a Russian ex-pat and one of the best/most elusive computer hackers in the world; and English actor James D'Arcy (Marvel's Agent Carter) as Henry, a high-ranking Interpol official who has spent his career chasing international criminals.

You also have French actress Nassima Benchicou (ASKIP, le collège se la raconte) playing Martine, a former intelligence agent with the Directorate-General for External Security; English actor Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton) as Jonah, a former programmer for the NSA/now Secretary General of Interpol; and English actor Terence Maynard (The Witcher, Professor T) as Dr. Lang, a therapist who treats patients with severe traumas.

Could Other NCIS Characters Appear?

Even via FaceTime, or a phone call? "In all honesty, as it's designed now, no," CBS Studios president David Stapf told Deadline back in March 2024, "but never say never." (That said, former colleague Timothy McGee, for one, gets a shout-out.)

Nope.

Though NCIS spinoffs such as NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai'i and NCIS: Origins all were ordered by CBS to air on CBS, the Tony/Ziva spinoff was greenlit by, and will stream on, the Paramount+ streaming service.

(NCIS: Sydney was originally developed to premiere on Paramount+ internationally, but when the dual Hollywood strikes found CBS in desperate need of fresh content for fall 2023, the franchise's first international offshoot was given a Stateside home on the Eye network. NCIS: Sydney has stayed put on CBS since, with Season 3 premiering Oct. 14.)

You have been patient this far, #Tiva fans. You can be patient a smidgen longer.

Production on the Tony/Ziva spinoff began in summer 2024 —  on location in Budapest, the Canary Islands, and Paris, France — and wrapped in January 2025. The 10-episode season premieres Thursday, Sept. 4, with its first three episodes, followed by weekly drops.