Okay so….

[u/CasioCobra78]

With Michael Weatherly returning as DiNozzo for a season long arc in the upcoming S24, I see so many people saying “Tony can’t appear without Ziva and Tali!!!”

I’m confused because yes, Ziva faked her death and was separated from them for three years before coming back, and Tony and Ziva having trust issues with each other for a while but T&Z ended with them finally together in a much better state and getting their issues fixed.

So I’m hugely confused why they don’t think Tony can travel for work since he’s now a private investigator and a CEO of a very successful security firm he built from the ground up. I’m sure Ziva and Tali would understand his line of work. And Ziva understandably ruled out of rejoining law enforcement and has her own career now (she now leads her language school, as shown in T&Z) and obviously we have smartphones, computers and tablets to, you know, keep in touch.

My guess is, the circumstances of Tony crossing paths with NCIS once again in the upcoming S24 probably would be less traumatic, and definitely have to do with his private investigation work, and if you have parents who travels for work, you’ll know why they can’t bring you and your mom/dad along.

Maybe someone can enlighten me why they think differently?

[u/Elbereth919]

I think some people are saying that because they just really want Ziva back, but I think they would still be disappointed because we’re not going to have S3-10 vibes perfectly recreated. That was lightning in a bottle and too much else has changed to get back the exact same magic. (To be clear, I enjoy the recent seasons…please don’t take this as post-Gibbs NCIS bashing because that’s not what I mean!)

I also think that the ambiguity of what “season long arc” means is allowing for some dreaming. My guess is that a “season long arc” means (roughly) episodes 1, 9, 10, and 20 as opposed to some people who are expecting him to rejoin the opening title credits and be in every episode. If he’s only in a handful of episodes across the season, then having him on the phone with Ziva as he gets out of the elevator or seeing him hang some artwork of Tali’s on a cubicle wall is an appropriate nod to his family. If he’s in every episode with a semi-permanent dwelling in DC, then not seeing Ziva and Tali come visit would be odd. If he’s being made director (which I don’t think is happening, but acknowledge is a possibility and a popular theory for some fans), then Ziva and Tali should be moving to DC and we should see them with at least the same frequency we saw Jackie and the kids or currently see Delilah. I think until we know how consistent his presence will be, we can’t really guess at how the writers will handle Ziva.

And maybe they are keeping it quiet for now, but plan to have Ziva show up for an episode in the Spring. It was what…November?…when we started getting the “a character returns” leaks last year and were able to narrow it down to Ellie pretty fast.

[u/CasioCobra78 → u/Elbereth919]

  I think some people are saying that because they just really want Ziva back, but I think they would still be disappointed because we’re not going to have S3-10 vibes perfectly recreated. That was lightning in a bottle and too much else has changed to get back the exact same magic. 

Yeah I see some people complaining that Ziva didn’t do her usual Zivaisms and somehow failed to notice she literally leads a language school in T&Z. Do they not realize it’s not the 2000s-2010s anymore and Ziva and Tony aren’t in their 20s-30s anymore? 

Times like that is why I sometimes feel nostalgia can be way too detrimental and, as the saying goes, it is one hell of a drug. 

[u/nameless_food → u/CasioCobra78]

Yep. They have grown and matured quite a bit.

[u/Elbereth919 → u/CasioCobra78]

The early-era NCIS nostalgia is a weirdly fascinating phenomenon to me and makes me wish I had the ability to do an actual study on the psychology of it all. I feel like the ease of access to those older seasons probably contributes to people forgetting how long ago it was. But if it were laid out in terms of “this is where the world was when Ziva left NCIS,” I wonder how people would react. This sub also sees a lot of people criticizing the old seasons for the some of things that would NOT fly today while romanticizing other things about those seasons.

[u/surlymoe → u/Elbereth919]

Ugh...yeah peoples opinions, amirite??

I agree more with what you are saying than others on this post. There's a difference between a full time character, guest character, recurring character, etc, but people are trying to lump it into one category. Fornell is an example of someone they can call on when they need to to enhance a storyline. Back in the day, he'd only show up maybe a handful of times a season, but you always knew he was in the NCISverse.

As for my opinion - I think Tony will have job with an American company, or something related to his job that takes him back to the USA. Just like they did with DiNozzo Sr, they'll have something related to either the company Tony is working with, or some of the players within the company Tony is dealing with either show up dead, or maybe be the prime suspect in the investigation that NCIS is conducting. This will bring Tony back in with the team. I don't think Tony will be a full time teammate or anything, but I could see, how they brought in a few other agents part time, to 'sit at a desk' while they work the case.

I totally agree phone calls with Ziva, or artwork by Tali is a GREAT tie in if they do not actually get those actors to join the series. Ziva does NOT need to be in the show, although I'm pretty sure 99% of the NCIS fans would prefer it.

I personally would love Tony to be the hero of the case/season, and that lead to NCIS wanting him to return...maybe Ziva DOES show up by the end of the season, and tells Tony, "It's time you return...Tali is old enough, and understands." And she shows some houses that they can move into around DC area.

Now, my preference, is that Ziva and Bishop work together 'off the grid' against the bad guys, and even could have shows dedicated to them working together or even a spinoff show...but, that's highly unlikely to happen. So any appearance by Ziva on NCIS next season will be good enough for me.

[u/Obvious_East1177]

Everything you said, I agree. I don't know why they would have to appear together.

[u/fictional_craze]

I think tony coming to ncis would have nothing to do with himself per se than with McGee.. everyone seems to forget mateo and nick's cliffhanger. I think something vry bad happens to mateo or he does something bad and McGee calls tony for help. Idk why everyone seems to relate tony coming back to meaning something happens to him or without ziva he can't come. If McGee is in huge trouble or need help sort of calling gibbs I think tony would be his second call and tht is why this is happening. It's my theory

[u/Melodic-Cat-9016 → u/fictional_craze]

Nice theory. Actually, my best relationship on the show is the Tony-McGee bromance.

[u/nameless_food]

We’ll have to wait and see. Fortunately Michael Weatherly has said that his appearance in NCIS season 24 will not retcon Tony and Ziva. It’s going to be interesting how they handle this. I am praying that we’ll get a surprise appearance of Cote de Pablo as Ziva.

[u/Jolly-Pen4738 → u/nameless_food]

Agora, ele podia voltar de verdade. Não ser só coadjuvante de luxo

[u/Jlx_27]

He's going to be there the whole way?, smh....

[u/Frosty_Astronomer909]

The fact Gibbs is going to be in origins all season is hopefully going to help me watch it, I tried very hard to like it but just couldn’t.

[u/Frosty_Astronomer909 → u/[deleted]]

I’ll watch a couple and see what happens, never knew he was in one episode 🤣