Recapping Tony and Ziva's romance, what you need to know before their NCIS spin-off premieres

NCIS recently announced that not only would we be getting the prequel treatment with Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but that we would also see two fan favorites together again! For fans of Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) it has been a long time coming. A new series focusing on their life with their daughter, Tali, is in the works. As a refresher, let’s look back at their entire journey as a couple.

De Pablo first came into the picture in season three of NCIS, in which she played Mossad Agent Ziva David. She was Ari Haswari’s handler, and his sister, who was tasked with preventing Gibbs from killing him in revenge for the murder of NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander).

Once Ziva officially joined the team as a Mossad Liaison, she and Tony began a relationship based on their constant banter and eventually learning to trust one another, especially on the job. It was clear they both had romantic feelings for each other, but did not act on it.

Their entire relationship was full of flirtation, but it never went anywhere. Not only due to outside relationships, but the fact that they worked together as well. Gibbs always had a rule about dating your partner and they never acted on their feelings.

After Ziva’s father was killed, she went after the person responsible, eventually leaving NCIS altogether. In season 11, Tony left to find her in an attempt to bring her back to NCIS. They gave into their feelings for each other before Ziva let Tony go so she could find peace in her life.

Three years after Tony last saw Ziva, she was presumed dead in a farmhouse explosion. The one survivor was a little girl named Tali, who was Tony and Ziva’s child. Tony decided to leave NCIS to focus on raising her in Paris.

Eventually, the truth came out that Ziva is, in fact, alive. In season 17, episode 16, the audience learned Tony did know she was alive, but it had been a while since they had seen one another.

Ziva had been in hiding in an attempt to track down a woman named Sahar, who was after her. Ziva went into hiding to protect Tony and Tali in case she went after them as well. Once the threat was over, this allowed the couple to finally reunite and raise their daughter together.

The new spinoff series featuring the little family will air on Paramount+ and both Weatherly and de Pablo will serve as executive producers. John McNamara will serve as showrunner in addition to writing the series premiere. Production will begin in Europe, which is where Tony and Ziva are said to be living with Tali.

While we still don’t know too much about the series, it does look like it will involve the couple looking into who went after Tony’s security company while also working on trust issues in their relationship. We're looking forward to finally seeing Tony and Ziva back on our screens again but also the spin-off showing their relationship as a couple.

Keep an eye on Hidden Remote for more updates on this NCIS spinoff!