‘NCIS’ season 11, episode 4 preview: Michael Weatherly’s Tony and Leia Pendergast

Next week, “NCIS” will air a new episode entitled “Choke Hold,” and feels already like many are going to have polarizing opinions on it. Why do we say that? The answer is pretty simple: A new love interest for Tony DiNozzo will be introduced. Michael Weatherly’s character has many fans, and many of them want different things for him. Therefore, we have a hard time thinking that there will be any storyline coming up for him that is not polarizing in some way.

This one features Stephanie Jacobsen in a guest role as Leia Pendergast, and based on the synopsis below, this possible flirtation between the two characters comes from them working on the job:

“The Secretary of the Navy assigns the NCIS team to a joint terrorism task force after a Naval research scientist is murdered and the lead suspect is wanted by the Russian government. In order to get a jump on the case, Gibbs has DiNozzo run interference with the leader of the task force, FBI Agent Leia Pendergast.”

We have not seen any indication that Pendergast will return beyond this episode, so it may just be an isolated thing. Still, this is the next step for what producers seem to think is the evolution of the DiNozzo character. Eventually, we imagine that he will be locked in to something more committed. It may just all be about timing, and based somewhat on when the producers decide that they want to end the show. Right now, there’s no indication that we are going to be saying goodbye in the near future.

What are your thoughts and early expectations for next week’s “NCIS”? Share your thoughts right now with a comment, and head over here to get some more news pertaining to the show, including a review for tonight’s episode. You can also sign up if you want some additional updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: CBS