‘NCIS’ season 11 spoilers: Boss explains focus for Cote de Pablo’s send-off episode

Is every single character on “NCIS” going to have an opportunity to say an individual farewell to Ziva? It doesn’t necessarily sound like it, but there could be a big reason for that: The attention is being placed instead on what happens with Cote de Pablo’s character and Tony, otherwise known as the longest-running “will they or won’t they?” couple of any show that we cover.

Before Ziva takes off into the sunset (possibly by jet plane), executive producer Gary Glasberg explains to TV Guide that rather than trying to divide up Ziva’s time with a variety of different characters, he thought it to be a smarter idea to really give her an opportunity to say farewell to Tony, and allow there to be whatever sort of closure that is needed to satisfy fans:

“I wanted to have as many moments as I could, but my main concern was for Tony and Ziva to have the time they deserved. This is something that’s going to linger with him.” 

In other words, don’t expect him to just suddenly move on and have a new love interest at any point in the future. If he leaves Ziva’s send-off unattached to her, we wouldn’t be surprised if he moves on at some point down the road, but Tiva fans need to have a greater understanding of what feelings are there between these two characters, and possibly also some hidden parts of their history (and you probably know what we’re talking about here). Producers are starting to cast her eventual successor now, but this new character will not appear until likely the start of 2014.

Also, the website reports that the two-part premiere (starting on September 24) is going to feature a guest appearance by Costas Mandylor of “Picket Fences,” playing a business who seeks to fight terrorism.

Photo: CBS