CBS Confirms Everybody's Worst Fear About NCIS Season 24
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The worst-case scenario for NCIS season 24 has officially been confirmed. When CBS's fall 2026 lineup premieres, the network's legacy procedural will be entering a new era. Motivated by the unexpected death of Director Leon Vance, ending an 18-year reign, the upcoming cycle will also see the return of Michael Weatherly's Tony Dinozzo Jr. for a season-long arc — his first proper comeback to NCIS since leaving a decade ago.
After addressing the NCIS season 23 finale cliffhanger when new episodes start to roll out, the current status of MCRT opens a lot of storytelling possibilities for the show to explore. There's currently a power vacuum in the agency brought by the loss of Vance, but it's also curious how Dinozzo will be reintegrated into his old team, especially now that only Timothy McGee and Jimmy Palmer are left from Leroy Jethro Gibbs' classic squad. All of these give NCIS season 24 the opportunity to be the show's best run in years. Unfortunately, the cycle has one of, if not its biggest disappointments already confirmed.
Ziva Won't Be In NCIS Season 24
Seeing Weatherly return comes with a wave of nostalgia for some of the best years of NCIS. While his return during Ducky's send-off episode was merely a cameo, this time, he's about to be a big player in the show's upcoming run. When his return was first announced, the celebration was immediately followed by questions about Ziva David's whereabouts. With the events of NCIS: Tony & Ziva preceding NCIS season 24, it only made sense to ask if Cote de Pablo was also coming back to the mothership.
That's where the worst disappointment of the season comes. Unfortunately, despite where their Paramount+ spinoff left them, NCIS season 24 will only see Dinozzo back, as Ziva will be elsewhere during the events of the show. As confirmed in an official marketing promo, de Pablo's character will be in Boston to keep an eye on Tali, as she starts boarding school in the United States. Meanwhile, Dinozzo will be in Washington DC to set up a satellite office for his security firm when he gets entangled with MCRT. Beyond not seeing Ziva back in NCIS season 24, the idea that she and Dinozzo will have to be separated again, albeit just physically, is disappointing.
What Ziva's Absence Means For NCIS's Future
The fact that Ziva is just in Boston, a short plane ride away, definitely keeps the door open for her potential appearance — in case the creative team behind NCIS season 24 change their mind as the year progresses. As disappointing as this is, the fact that her separation from Dinozzo is rooted in wanting to be close to Tali tracks with her commitment to being a mother. If CBS sticks to its current decision to keep Ziva away, then it could be a set-up for her eventual return beyond this cycle.
Obviously, this will all depend on how NCIS utilizes Dinozzo in his reunion with the MCRT. He's going to be involved with a bigger mystery that will play out for the rest of the year, but it's also safe to say that he will also be busy with his private endeavor. Assuming that he is successful in setting up the Washington DC branch of his security firm, then there will always be an easy opening for Ziva to come back. In an ideal world, she and Dinozzo would be working with McGee for an old-school team-up, but for now, viewers will have to settle with the reunion between Gibbs' two best protégés.
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NCIS
6/10
- Release Date
- September 23, 2003
- Network
- CBS
- Showrunner
- Donald P. Bellisario
- Directors
- Dennis Smith, Terrence O'Hara, Tony Wharmby, James Whitmore Jr., Thomas J. Wright, Michael Zinberg, Arvin Brown, Rocky Carroll, Diana Valentine, Leslie Libman, Tawnia McKiernan, Colin Bucksey, William Webb, Bethany Rooney, Alrick Riley, Jeff Woolnough, Alan J. Levi, Lionel Coleman, Martha Mitchell, Peter Ellis, Michael Weatherly, Edward Ornelas, Stephen Cragg, Tom Wright
-
Sean Murray
Timothy McGee
-
David McCallum
Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.