‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ Boss Talks Major Tiva Developments, Prison Break & More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 Episode 4 “Wedding Crashers.”]

The wedding in the present might not be between Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) in this NCIS spinoff, but as flashbacks in the latest episode reveal, they almost had one!

Yes, in the latest NCIS: Tony & Ziva flashbacks, Tony and Ziva get engaged in June 2020! But, we know it doesn’t work out since, in the present, they’re exes … but finding their way back to each other? After wrapping up the fake wedding to lure in Martine (Nassima Benchicou) and making off with her bag, Tony and Ziva do kiss, then stand together on the boat as they, Claudette (Amita Suman), Boris (Maximilian Osinski), and Fruzsi (Anne-Marie Waldeck) continue on their way.

Below, showrunner John McNamara talks about the major Tony and Ziva moments in Episode 4, teases the prison break to come, and more. (Plus, read what Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo had to say about this episode here.)

This episode leaves Tony and Ziva in perhaps the most hopeful place that we’ve seen them in the present when they’re on the boat. What does that mean for their relationship? How much can you play with that back and forth, and how much was that a discussion when you were looking at the season?

John McNamara: Yeah, it was a big discussion. And the whole idea is you want to both create what feels like realistic, real people actually attracted to each other, falling back into love, if you will, and then know that you have in your back pocket a lot of stuff coming up that could blow ’em apart.

Speaking of that, because of what’s coming up — the teaser for Episode 5 shows an attempted prison break to get to Jonah — is there time for them to focus on their personal relationship?

Oh, there’s always time for that.

But do they like to take advantage of the fact that maybe they can put that off because of what’s been going on?

I don’t think that either of them is that conscious, especially as things really take a turn in Episodes 5 and 6. But they definitely both, I think, want to be in the present. They want to be protecting Tali [Isla Gie]. They want to be protective of each other, but they’re always on the lookout for, “Is this the moment we could possibly rekindle something? Is this the moment where we’re sort of safe and at rest?” And so, like any romantic couple in a thriller, they’re looking for the time to be together while being very conscious of the fact that there’s always danger.

In the flashbacks, Tony and Ziva get engaged. When did you know you wanted to add that to their history, and what had you wanted to do with the scene itself, and what led to it?

That was very much a group effort. The episode you’re referring to was written by Jay Gard and Alex Raiman, who do, I think, a terrific job of balancing the present in the past. The discussion was, “How far did this go in the past?” And obviously we know they’re not married, and hence, we know that they’re not divorced because that never comes up. So it would lead the audience to both, I think, have the satisfaction of, “Oh, wow, a scene where they really get together on a deeper level,” knowing in their heart of hearts, in the pit of the stomachs, this is not going to work. At least the past version is not going to work. I think it creates a nice tension, the knowing, and then it creates the tension, the question of, can it not work in the present?

Henry (James D’Arcy) had seemed surprised by the stolen drone. I know you can’t say if he can be trusted or not, but can you say if actually that’s true? It could be that he doesn’t know everything, even if he’s involved.

Or he’s a superb undercover operative. It’s one or the other. He’s either a great undercover operative, or he’s generally surprised.

What can you say about that leverage that Martine has?

I can’t say anything.

Now, the plan is to get Jonah out of prison. What can you preview?

I can say the prison break episodes are really hard to write. All the writers pitched in. I co-wrote that with Kiersten Stanley, who used to be my assistant, who’s a wonderful writer. Yeah, I think the only thing I can really say about it is it definitely shifts the dynamic of the relationship a lot and shifts even the tone of the show somewhat; at least for the next few episodes, the tone shifts in a certain direction.

I really like Claudette and Sophie’s (Lara Rossi) relationship. Talk about deciding to have them be together and also what seems like a stable relationship — they’re just apart physically — and then you have the complicated mess of Tony and Ziva.

Yeah, exactly. That was always meant to be the counterpoint. That really came out of the writers’ room. I mean, it was not my intention in the original pilot that they would be a couple. It really came about as a series of discussions about who is Claudette, who is Sophie, and filling in the blanks emotionally. And it just felt kind of right. The minute it was pitched, I’m like, let’s do that.

Claudette had gotten ordained in order to marry Tony and Ziva. How much are we going to hear beyond that or see of the planning of the wedding in the flashbacks after the engagement? 

The Claudette thing was actually more about marrying Boris and Fruzsi. But yeah, we definitely were trying to foreshadow because the audience knows in the past that there’s a wedding coming. So it was an opportunity to foreshadow that.

The promo for the next episode mentions a full debrief in D.C. Can you say if the show is going to move to the United States at any point, or is that just, this could happen, and things are going to get in the way?

I’d rather not say. We do go to a couple of really interesting places that I hope will be surprising.

Sophie tells Ziva that she and Tony have both changed, and Ziva seems skeptical about that. But how much have they changed, and how much have they realized they’ve changed? Because that can be two different things.

Yeah, that’s a really, really, really good point. I think that their core beings — I think this is true of all people — they are who they are. But I also think that as you get older, you learn. You learn that you might have a bad habit. You might have trust issues that aren’t warranted. You might learn that you’re too trusting. You might learn that what you thought about that person turns out to be totally wrong. And I think a great way for characters to learn in this kind of thriller is in the midst of a lot of danger. That strips away a lot of bulls**t and a lot of pettiness. You’re just trying to survive. And then in that survival mode, you see who the other person really is when the s**t hits the fan. And that’s why I think they’re able to make some of the breakthroughs that they make in the series because of how much their lives are really in peril — and the life of their daughter.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Thursdays, Paramount+