Before NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo are finally able to celebrate NCIS‘ 1000th episode after missing the CBS special. Despite its short year, a lot has happened to the Major Case Response Team, including crossing a major milestone — the NCIS franchise’s 1000th overall episode. Instead of doing a crossover outing, the focus of its story was on the DC office, as it revisited the very first case that Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team handled in the show. The NCIS 1000th episode was chock-full of Easter eggs, but it lacked any cameos from former characters, including Tony and Ziva.

Weeks after that, Weatherly and de Pablo finally got to celebrate NCIS‘ 1000th episode accolade as seen in a new video from Festival TV Monte-Carlo on Instagram. Check out the video below:

Weatherly and de Pablo recently attended the Monte Carlo festival to talk about NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Despite that, the event allowed the pair to belatedly celebrate NCIS‘ latest accolade, which they deserved, considering that they are members of Gibbs’ best NCIS team iteration.

Will Tony And Ziva Return To The Main NCIS Show Despite Their Spinoff?

Tony And Ziva Still Needs To Reunite With McGee

It has been several years since both Tony and Ziva have left MCRT. Much has already happened in the agency since their exits, but both have also returned, albeit separately. Ziva reunited with Gibbs and went on what may very well be their final mission together. Meanwhile, Tony returned for Ducky’s tribute episode in NCIS season 21, as he helped Jimmy Palmer navigate a tough period of grieving. That said, the ideal situation is to see the team back together in Navy Yard before they officially move on to their own NCIS spinoff.

While Tony and Ziva’s NCIS return won’t reunite them with Gibbs, they can still team up with their long-time co-worker, Timothy McGee. Perhaps the pair’s new series is launched via their recent visit to DC, as they inform MCRT of what they are dealing with in Europe. It’s worth mentioning that the NCIS franchise is known for backdoor pilots, so doing this again for NCIS: Tony & Ziva isn’t anything new. It may even be the best way to springboard the endeavor since it won’t be airing on CBS like the rest of the universe. Instead, it would be on Paramount+.

Ultimately, there’s no shortage of reasoning to bring back Tony and Ziva to the flagship NCIS series. It’s now up to the writers and creatives of the show to make it happen. While it’s possible to stage the reunion later on in its run, it’s arguably for the best that they establish the connection between NCIS and Weatherly and de Pablo’s new show early on to get more attention for it.

Source: Festival TV Monte-Carlo/Instagram