Ziva David’s (played by Cote de Pablo) return to NCIS has left fans wondering what she’s been up to in the interceding years. CBS viewers have particularly been wondering whether Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) knows she is back and whether he too will come back in season 17. The series will also have to answer questions about what has happened to their daughter Tali (Emelia and Layla Golfieri).
Does Tony know Ziva is alive in NCIS?
A recent interview with NCIS co-showrunner Steven Binder gave us some hints about what Tony does or does not know.
He told Parade: “It’s unknown whether or not she’s been involved with Tony or not.
“But, certainly, if she has, Tony hasn’t called the team up and said she’s alive.
“So, there would have to be something very serious hanging over her own head, not just Gibbs’.
READ MORE: NCIS season 17: How Cote de Pablo was convinced to return
“Just from the available facts, you can add up the idea that there’s someone out there that’s so bad, that’s so dangerous, that she had to go undercover and leave her daughter behind, at least for a period of time.”
This essentially teases two possible ways that Ziva’s role on NCIS season 17 could go.
In the first, Tony does know that Ziva is alive and the threat associated with that knowledge is so serious that he hasn’t informed even the people closest to her.
In the second, Tony doesn’t know and will find out during the series itself – possibly while appearing in a cameo.
READ MORE: NCIS season 17: Will DiNozzo return to join Ziva in the new series?
If the second option is true then this also suggests that Ziva’s own daughter does not know she is alive.
In NCIS history, Tony left the show to raise Tali after finding out that Ziva had supposedly died in an explosion on her Israeli compound.
As such, either Ziva left Tony information of her plans to fake her own death or she didn’t.
Binder revealed to TVLine that “facts will be forthcoming” about what Tony knows in the first episodes of season 17, so fans will soon know.
READ MORE: NCIS: Gibbs’ Rules – What are Gibbs’ biggest rules?
As for whether Tony actor Michael Weatherly will return, that is less certain.
Asked recently in a social media video about whether he will return to the show, he teased: “Shhh I can’t talk about [that].”
Since leaving NCIS, Weatherly is heading his own show Bull, but that does not mean he will be back briefly in the upcoming series.
In the trailer for season 17, episode one, it is suggested that Ziva went into hiding to protect her family, which means that once the threat is dealt with we may see her reunite with Tony and Tali on the show.
NCIS season 17 starts September 24 on CBS
