Cote de Pablo surprised fans by returning to NCIS in seasons 16 and 17 of the long-running police drama.
Ziva David was last seen saying her goodbyes to the team before jetting off to Paris to reunite with her partner Tony and their daughter, Tali. Will Ziva ever make another appearance?
In an interview with TV Line in 2020, the show’s executive producer Steve Binder stated that while there are no current plans for Cote to return to the show, he is always open to the possibility. “‘Let’s not grab Cote and stick her in,’ it’ll always be. ‘Let’s first come up with a story and see if it’s something worthy of bringing that character back,’ it says “He elaborated.
“We’ve really played all of the cards there are to play [with Ziva], so we don’t have any plans right now,” he said, “but we’re certainly open to it.”
“Unfortunately, because of political things and scripts not being good enough, I chose not to [return to NCIS],” Cote said of her decision to leave the popular cr1me show in 2016.
“See, I adore this character!” I spent eight years creating Ziva and when I felt she wasn’t being treated with the respect she deserved.
According to the show’s executive producer, there are no plans for Cote to return in 2020.
“They planned to send [Ziva] back to Israel and make her a miserable woman. It didn’t seem fair to me. I told them I wouldn’t return until someone wrote something truly amazing for Ziva.”
In a later interview with USA Today in 2019, the actress clarified her statement. “I believe that was taken out of context at some point, and people started writing that to justify the idea of leaving,” she explained.
“But I didn’t go because I wanted to, because I was prepared, or because I was tired. I didn’t have much of a choice.”