Michael Weatherly updated fans on the “new and improved” version of Tony DiNozzo NCIS fans will see in Season 24.
“One [of the reasons I’m returning] is just in purely practical terms, I think CBS is building an incredible Tuesday night,” the actor told TV Insider. “You have LL COOL J and Scott Caan and the rest of the cast they’ve put together [on] NCIS: NEW YORK.”
Weatherly continued, “Then you have Mark Harmon returning to on camera in a regular way in ORIGINS, which is going to be just a huge resonant thunderclap to fans…If you look at Mark Harmon as the OG and LL COOL J is the OG before there were OG, I’m just happy that they invited me to this party.”
Related: Michael Weatherly Calls NCIS Return ‘Truly Amazing’
The actor also pointed to NCIS: TONY & ZIVA giving fans a look at a more “emotional, paternal, responsible, mature side of DiNozzo.”
“We got to see him running a company. We got to see him being a father and making decisions where he was not just ego-driven, but he was thinking about not just saving the world from an evil bad guy, but also saving his family from the disruption and the chaos that we all encounter in our lives,” he explained. “He still has lots of movie quotes and spunk and verve, but he’s also been through a pretty big learning curve. Rather than an instant knee-jerk reaction, he [now] takes a beat and thinks. He’s had a relationship with his father [Robert Wagner]. He’s had a full arc of mentoring by Gibbs [Mark Harmon]. He’s been a father.”
It was announced earlier this year that Weatherly would be reprising his NCIS role for the show’s upcoming season.
“Having Michael Weatherly back in the NCIS family is one of those things a writer can only dream about,” showrunner Steven D. Binder told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re beyond excited to have him return. Tony DiNozzo has always had a way of changing the temperature of every scene he’s in, and watching the newer members of the team encounter the legend they’ve only heard stories about is exactly as fun as it sounds.”
Speaking to TV Line, Binder revealed what brings DiNozzo back to the NCIS crew — “He had a private security firm in TONY & ZIVA called Salus Mondiale, [and now] his daughter has come to the United States and is in boarding school, and he’s opening a satellite office of his private security firm in D.C.”
“He gets word of something happening with NCIS, and he’s interested about it,” Binder continued, and “That’s how his world crosses paths with ours.”
NCIS Season 24 premieres Oct. 6.
Read Next: Everything We Know About Michael Weatherly’s NCIS Return
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
