SUMMARY
- Ziva David was first introduced in Season 3 of NCIS as a Mossad agent and liaison officer before finally becoming a probationary NCIS agent later in the season.
- Ziva left NCIS in Season 11 to protect Gibbs from a political vendetta and chose not to rejoin when the issue was resolved. Season 13 later revealed that the character had died off-screen.
- Cote de Pablo later returned in a Season 17 arc, wherein Ziva hunts down the people who tried to kill her and finally reunites with Tony DiNozzo and her daughter, Tali.
NCIS has been no stranger to significant cast turnover in its long history, sometimes leaving viewers wondering if the show could sustain itself without some of its most integral stars. Arguably, the most shocking shake-up to the cast came when Cote de Pablo’s Ziva left NCIS. From her first appearance, Ziva was a big part of the franchise, making her departure all the more heartbreaking for longtime viewers.
It hit fans of the long-running crime series hard when CBS announced Ziva would be leaving the highly successful NCIS. Details on why the character was written out were never fully confirmed, but quotes from de Pablo and lack of confirmation from production have led to conflicting rumors.
Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on December 17, 2023: NCIS has continued to go through major cast shakeups in recent years. Even Mark Harmon’s Leroy Gibbs made his departure during the show’s nineteenth season. Yet, even as the series awaits the premier of its twenty-first season in 2024, audiences can’t help but think back to the tragic circumstances behind Ziva David’s departure over a decade ago, and all the events that befell her character in the years that followed.
