‘NCIS’ season 14: Wilmer Valderrama not looking at himself as Michael Weatherly replacement

Wilmer Valderrama is the most notable new addition to “NCIS” this coming season, but there’s one thing he wants fans of the show to know right away: He’s not coming on with the purpose of trying to be a replacement to Michael Weatherly or his character of Anthony DiNozzo. This is a pretty smart move on both his and the show’s part, given that this would be an incredibly difficult challenge to try and match.

In speaking about coming on board the show to Entertainment Weekly while at San Diego Comic-Con, the actor had the following message to pass along:

“[Weatherly] had a fantastic journey with the show. The truth is there’s no shoes to fill, I’m definitely wearing my own … I’m excited because as a new member of NCIS I get to bring a new energy to it, a different dynamic.”

If you wanted a specific reason to be excited about Valderrama’s character, hopefully the following statement works to fit the bill:

“We’re at day five of shooting on the first episode. Already there’s been a couple of explosions and I shot a guy off of a motorcycle already. I am crazy.”

It will be weird watching “NCIS” without Tony around, but at the same time we’re still curious about the future. Sometimes, new additions can turn out to be really great — a great example of that is Aisha Tyler over on “Criminal Minds,” who is playing one of our favorite new characters in some time in Dr. Tara Lewis.

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