NCIS Showrunner Teases Setting Up Tony & Ziva Spinoff
NCIS co-showrunner Steve D. Binder would love to see the series set up for Tony & Ziva.
"Tiva" fans got exciting news earlier this year when Paramount+ announced that an NCIS spinoff series, NCIS: Tony and Ziva, was coming to the streamer with production set to kick off this summer in Europe, but there have been plenty of questions about the series, too. Now, NCIS showrunner Steve D. Binder is opening up about how the main NCIS series might set up the eagerly anticipated spinoff and while it doesn't sound like there are concrete plans, he says he is all for it.
"You know, that's been a long-running creative process, going through several incarnations of things," Binder told TVLine about NCIS potentially setting up for Tony & Ziva. "Let's put it this way, I would love to. I would love to do that, and I don't speak for Michael [Weatherly], but I have a feeling Michael would be up for anything like that. So, we're all for it."
He went on to address the upcoming NCIS prequel series as well, NCIS: Origins.
"One thing that's nice about Origins is that it takes place in a different time period, so you'd need to get a little more creative if you want something to cross over from one episode to another," he said. "But that would be super fun, too. So, I'm absolutely open to any ideas anybody has. They are totally welcome to show them to me and see what we can come up with."
What is NCIS: Tony & Ziva About?
NCIS: Tony & Ziva will center around Tony DiNozzo (Weatherly) and Ziva David (de Pablo) who fans last saw reunited in Paris along with their daughter, Tali, in the NCIS Season 16 finale — Ziva left the team in Season 11 and was believed dead, though that ended up not being the case. The spinoff will open on the family, but "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 that they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after."
"We've been talking about this story for many years, and now with John McNamara at the helm, we are ready," Weatherly and de Pablo said in a statement when the series was announced. "The world of Tony and Ziva (and daughter Tali) promises to be an action-packed roller coaster fueled by love, danger, tears, and laughter. We also want to acknowledge and thank the fans from around the world who supported the 'TIVA' movement for years. To this day, they say hello in grocery stores and on the street to tell us how much these characters mean to them and ask what Tony and Ziva are up to now. This is for you."
An NCIS Prequel Is Also In The Works
NCIS: Tony & Ziva isn't the only expansion to the NCIS universe fans of the franchise has to look forward to. It was also previously announced that CBS is set to debut a prequel, NCIS: Origins, this fall. The series will follow Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon in NCIS, as he "starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks."
The prequel series will see Harmon return as narrator and will star Austin Stowell as Special Agent Gibbs, Mariel Molino as Special Agent Lala Dominguez, Kyl Schmid as Mike Franks, and Tyla Abercrombie as Field Operations Support Officer Mary Jo Sullivan.
"We are elated and honored to continue the expansion of the 'NCIS' universe in such a unique and unexpected way," Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. "Viewers can look forward to Mark Harmon returning to CBS to narrate the complex and mysterious backstory of Leroy Jethro Gibbs' early years in 'NCIS: Origins,' which will build on the rich legacy of this character while reintroducing fan-favorite characters and meeting new ones."
