‘NCIS’ season 13: No word on Cote de Pablo return, but Ziva to have ‘impact’ on Tony’s exit

While we still cannot tell you one way or another if Cote de Pablo will be returning at the end of “NCIS” this season, there is still one message that we can pass along: The former series star’s character of Ziva David will have some sort of role in determining how Anthony DiNozzo leaves the team.

For more on that, showrunner Gary Glasberg had the following to say in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

“The relationship that Tony has with Ziva absolutely has an impact on his reason to depart at the end of the season. Ziva is a huge part of who Tony is and at the at the end of the day, that comes into play. You’ll have to wait and see how it unfolds but it’s a part of the big story.”

As we’ve said all along, it would feel wrong for the show to not include Ziva in some way in Michael Weatherly’s last episode, and a physical appearance from Cote would be much preferred. Our feeling has been that Tony should get some sort of goodbye scene with every person who has impacted his life, whether it be her to someone like McGee, Gibbs, Abby, or other members of the team who have been there with him for well over a decade.

We’ll ultimately have a chance to see next month what the producers come up with, but in the event that a surprise Cote appearance does happen, we imagine that it will be just that: A surprise, and a rather big one, at that.

If you missed it, head over here to see what we just wrote about earlier today regarding “NCIS” and Michelle Obama stopping by for an appearance. Also, sign up over at this link in the event you want some more TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)