NCIS: This surprise return was one of the series’ best-kept secrets!

At the beginning of season 11 of NCIS, Cote de Pablo left the show after 8 seasons as the main cast member. However, that wasn’t the last we’d see of her character, Ziva David, after the fan-favorite CBS series hit Season 3 of the flagship. The actor actually made a surprise appearance in the closing moments of the Season 16 finale, then appeared in several episodes of Season 17. And great measures have been taken to ensure his return is a well-kept secret, according to executive producer Mark Horowitz. “By invoking Fight Club rules“.

In late November, Horowitz was a guest on TV’s “Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch” podcast. Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly, who will both be reuniting in the upcoming spin-off NCIS: Tony & Ziva. When the conversation turned to what was planned for the cameo Cote de Pablo In season 16, the producer revealed a behind-the-scenes look at the character’s return.

“When you came back for your special episode…and we were all waiting for you. We were very good at keeping secrets. These surprises that happened in front of the audience surprised many people who worked on the show and did not know what we were going to do. We did a whole scene that never aired. It only existed on paper and we literally only showed it to a dozen people who were going to be involved and that was it. It was never revealed to the agents or anyone else. The rushes were all separated. Everything was separate. It happened when Kate was shot on the roof, that’s where it all started. And we came up with what I call fight club rules. We use fight club rules, we’re just not going to talk about it. And I mean you’re not going to talk to your wife, your husband, your kids, your friends at the bar, nobody. We have succeeded.“

after leaving Cote de Pablo As a series regular, everyone thought Ziva died off-screen at the end of Season 13, except for Tony, who didn’t believe him, so he went to Israel after resigning from NCIS to find answers — and with their daughter Tali. He just learned to exist. Finally, in Season 16, we learn through Eli Bishop that Ziva is still alive, and at the end of that season finale, she reappears in Gibbs’ (Mark Harmon) basement to warn her former boss that she’s in danger.

Ziva’s magical appearance

Mark Horowitz He also described how he felt that night Cote de Pablo Arrived to film his cameo: A Magical Story.

“Your return was where we left the entire team, except for a very small group of people. You were stuck in traffic or something. There was some kind of accident or something. So we waited, it was late, it was the last night of the last day of the season. I don’t forbid anyone to take photos, but I was there with my camera and there was this moment when suddenly silence fell on the stage and footsteps echoed in the distance, very different boots getting closer and closer, closer and closer. And everyone turned, watched and waited. And then, at the corner of this street, the Cote de Pablo appears. It was a wonderful, wonderful moment.“

When we last saw Ziva in Season 17, she was about to reunite Tony and Talia in Paris, marking the trio’s first ever reunion. Ziva was no longer visible inside NCIS Since then, however, Tony made a surprise return earlier this year for an episode dedicated to David McCallum and his character, Donald ‘Duck’ Mallard. We’ll finally see Ziva and Tony reunite on screen in their aforementioned spinoff, which follows the pair on the run to Europe after an attack on Tony’s security company.

NCIS: Tony and Ziva We don’t have a release date yet, but we can count on the first show in 2025.

As for NCIS, there’s only one episode of season 22 left to watch: It’ll be January 27 on CBS, the date the season’s epilogue airs, followed by the rest of the prequel series. NCIS: Origins.

You can watch the first 18 seasons of the original show on Prime Video.