NCIS Airs a Ziva David Rerun Tonight: The Character Is Not Back

CBS’s NCIS will not air a new episode tonight, March 17, 2020. Instead, Season 17, Episode 2 will be airing in the usual new episode time slot. The episode first aired in October 2019.

Ziva David, who was portrayed by Cote de Pablo since the season 3 premiere of NCIS, played an important role in Season 17, Episode 2 “Into The Light.” The character has left the show, and it seems as though she’s not returning this time around.

WARNING: Spoilers for Ziva’s history on NCIS and some spoilers for NCIS season 17 follow.

Read on to learn more about Ziva’s history on the show.

Ziva Has a Spotty History in ‘NCIS’

Ziva David first appeared in the season 3 premiere of NCIS in the episode titled “Kill Ari (part 1),” and she began a regular cast member starting with the episode “Silver War.” Ziva was introduced as an Israeli citizen, agent of the Kidon unit of the Mossad, daughter of Mossad Director Eli David and a friend of the NCIS director. She was assigned to NCIS as a liaison officer for four years.

Fans will remember that Ziva previously left the show way back in season 11 of the show, but in season 13 it was shown that she actually had a daughter with Tony; however, during a mortar attack, it appeared that Ziva was killed.

At the time, de Pablo announced she was leaving the series and received a lot of fan pushback with people hoping she’d change her mind. Others reached out to offer their support and love, promising to support her no matter what she would be doing in the future.

She sat down with TV Guide, saying that she was “incredibly moved by the blind support people had without ever getting reasons as to why I left. People trusted that what I was doing was what I needed to do, and that’s unconditional love from people who don’t even know me. That’s been the most beautiful thing out of this process.”

She also said her departure was not planned.

Then, in season 16, Ziva was revealed to have actually been alive the whole time, but she’d gone into hiding because of everything happening. She returned to the screen for the first time in the season 16 finale. This time, though, she walked into an elevator and winked, signaling that she could be gone for good. 

People Were Disappointed in Ziva’s Exit

After her final episode aired in October, fans were upset that Ziva never met back up with Tony. There were clues prior to the episode that Tony (Michael Weatherly) could be back for Ziva’s final round, but the hopes and clues did not come to fruition.

As usual with a fan-favorite character’s exit, people expressed their disbelief and disappointment on social media, with one viewer writing “Not enough Ziva in this episode. Frustrating to have her and not have her. #NCIS” and another writing “Me thinking I’d rather get an onscreen tiva reunion after all the years of disappointment #NCIS” along with a picture of a clown.

People are still hoping that she might return down the road, though, since there was no Tiva reunion and people have been calling for it. Anthony Senior guest-starred on an episode this season, though, and there was no Tiva reunion then. It’s possible that day will never come for loyal viewers.

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