Tony & Ziva’ Boss Breaks Down Tiva’s Relationship Status & That [Spoiler] Mention

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 Episodes 1 “No Country Is Safe,” 2 “No Friend of Mine,” and 3 “Cover Story.”]

“Part of what makes their being able to trust each other in terms of maybe rekindling the relationship is how well they work together,” notes showrunner John McNamara of Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo), who are exes in the present day of this NCIS spinoff.

But the two are on the run together, after his security company is framed for the theft of a significant amount of money (that’s just the beginning), did sleep together in 2020 after they were reunited, are growing closer in the present (especially after an encounter with Tony’s girlfriend, who turns out to be married), and as they co-parent Tali (Isla Gie).

Below, John McNamara breaks down the major moments from the first three episodes (streaming now). Plus, read what Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo had to say about these episodes here.

We see the reunion that we’ve been waiting to see ever since it was revealed that Ziva is alive. What had you wanted to do with those moments in the flashbacks? It’s balancing what it means for them as a couple, but it’s also addressing what she’s gone through.

John McNamara: More than anything, I wanted to be true to those characters, the way that their stories were told on the mothership show. I didn’t want to deny the fact that she had terrible PTSD. I thought that was an incredibly powerful arc for her and for Mark Harmon. I thought it was really, really wonderful, and I wanted to honor the fact that I think Tony has always, always been there for her. And the fact that he gets a second chance, that she’s literally comes back from the dead, I thought, that’s not going to be easy for either of them. It’s going be great at first because you’re going to have that kind of rush. But they both have a lot of adjusting to do. If you look at them as real people, they have huge gulfs, emotionally, psychologically. And then I believe what the writer, William Goldman, who wrote Butch Cassidy, said: “You think your heroes are in enough trouble, put them in more trouble.” And that’s, to me, what the whole espionage 9.4 story was. It was like this relationship was already just barely functioning, and then you just throw them into the f**king deep end.

Marcell Piti / Paramount+

Because their relationship is obviously best described as it’s complicated, whether you’re talking about the flashbacks or the present day. But then it seems like by the end of Episode 3, they’re moving more in the direction of seeing why they do work well together in the present day. So where had you wanted to keep them at that point? Because now they’re on the run together, they’re dealing with all this stuff, but they can’t forget or ignore about their personal relationship.

Also I think part of what makes their being able to trust each other in terms of maybe rekindling the relationship is how well they work together. I think the realization is we couldn’t possibly be this in sync in work if there’s not something else at play that we’re both afraid of and maybe even in denial about. I think a lot of human experiences is denial, and a lot of overcoming denial is overcoming adversity. So I try to bring to the surface and make text the ambivalence. And then the minute you have guns and car chases, that ambivalence kind of goes away a little bit.

So in the flashback in Episode 3, when they’re kissing after dinner, Ziva says that this part has “always” been easy for them. So what were you saying about their history and just how long something had been on that wasn’t shown on NCIS? Because that had always been vague.

Yeah. There was a reference to a night in, I think it was in Paris … There was an offscreen liaison that resulted in Tali. And I think the fact that it was kind of vague was actually really helpful for me and the other writers because we then could kind of fill in a few more blanks and we felt strongly that two things worked really well for them once they would overcome. One is working together, worked well for them. They always were in kind of sync, even though they could often butt heads. And the other was I think they had a really great physical attraction that took a long time. But when it finally came to a boil, it really came to a boil.

Episode 3 is also when we learned that Tony was in a relationship, and then we get the reveal that Nicole’s (Sophie Mousel) married.

To a cop.

Why was Tony ready to be serious enough with Nicole to introduce her to Tali? How much was it about running from what happened and could happen with Ziva?

He does explain that he really felt like he devoted all of his time and energy to, at first, being a family with Ziva and Tali, then when that didn’t work out with Ziva, to really devoting himself to Tali and being the best co-parent he could, but now Talia’s at the cusp of leaving. And I think it was that sense of, “Well, what am I going to have in my life? I’m not going to be with Ziva and Tali’s going to be at college.” And so that sort of opened him up. But again, I think Tony himself would say it wasn’t the greatest decision on Earth. That’s what I love about all these characters. They’re incredibly flawed.

Marcell Piti / Paramount+

Do Tony and Martine (Nassima Benchicou) have a history? There was that “have we met” in 101, but is it just that he might’ve seen her around Interpol? Is it something else?

I can’t tell you.

Tony seems to go back and forth when it comes to Henry (James D’Arcy) and whether or not they can trust him, while Ziva very much thinks that he’s involved, she is very anti Henry, But what can you say about how much he should be trusted and why Tony and Ziva struggle so much to see the other side when it comes to him?

I don’t want to reveal whether or not he’s the villain because that’s part of the fun of really starting in Episode 5 through 10. There’s a couple big reveals. I really liked the fact, and I think this really came up in Episode 6, which was written by Christina Strain, that Henry had established such a strong relationship with Tali as kind of an uncle that at times, and you can see it in some of the flashbacks in Episode 2, Ziva feels a bit sidelined. And I don’t think she even was conscious of that until some other events unfolded. Whereas I think by nature, too, she is not a trusting person. She was raised by a Mossad agent. She was trained to be a killer as a teenager. Whereas Tony’s a happy go lucky All-American former cop and has that kind of American rah-rah positivity, optimism in a sense, always kind of seen the best in people, and that generally gets him f**ked over pretty bad.

Whether Henry can be trusted or not, can you say if his affection for Tony and Tali is real?

It looks real. Really, really, really, really good people who operate in the world of espionage are very good at making you believe what they want you to believe.

Talk about including that McGee mention in Episode 3.

Yeah, totally Shelley Meals, the writer of Episode 3, totally her idea. Just I think popped up in a draft of the script. I loved it. I said, yeah, this is great. This is terrific. It kind of inspired me to either in my own episodes or another writer’s episodes kind of put a few more Easter eggs.

Can you say how much Tony and Ziva are in touch with McGee or anyone back in DC?

I can’t without revealing stuff, but I do think that a good point is made, and I think it’s in [Episode] 3, which is, “We’re wanted fugitives for terrorism. We don’t want to involve our friends, and 9.4 is truly dangerous and could kill anyone anywhere.”

Dr. Lang (Terence Maynard) seems to be helping Ziva. Can you say if he’s what he seems and if Ziva should be trusting him like she is?

Of course I can’t.

But do you think that he is actually helping her in the way that she needs to be helped, whether he can be trusted or not?

I definitely think whatever he really is or isn’t, the therapy has obviously worked. She’s gotten past the kind of more physical manifestations of trauma. He may have a motive, I don’t know.

Because he may have an ulterior motive, but it’s what she’s getting out of it that matters.

I think that’s dramatized in the scene where she hears the backfire and realizes it’s the first time she hasn’t gone for a gun.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Thursdays, Paramount+

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