‘NCIS’ Creators Finally Reveal Why Cote de Pablo Left the Show

Cote de Pablo ‘wanted to move on’ from ‘NCIS,’ the executive producer explained

Cote de Pablo is one of the most beloved stars in NCIS, and it shook fans when she abruptly left the series in 2013. At the time, she didn’t give a reason why she was leaving the character of Ziva David behind. The show creators spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the situation.

“With Cote, I think she had gotten to a place where she wanted to move on,” Charles Floyd Johnson, executive producer on JAG

 and NCIS, told the publication in September 2023. “She did eight years on the show, and I had a conversation with her about a year or two before she left, and she said to me, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this forever, and at some point, I think I might leave.’ And I said, ‘Oh, Cote, please, come on. It’s such a successful show. What are you going to do? You should ride this horse all the way to the gate.’ And she said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’”

Johnson explained that the show had difficulty transitioning from Pablo to Emily Wickersham, who played Eleanor Bishop. “Audiences liked [Cote], but eventually, Emily won out,” Johnson explained. “But, I remember it was a little bumpy with her, where you’d get mail, and people would go, ‘She’s no Cote de Pablo.’ Well, we wrote her very differently for that reason.”

Cote de Pablo said she left because she didn’t like how Ziva David was being written

The executive producer of NCIS gave one reason for Cote de Pablo exiting the series, but Pablo gave another. She said that she didn’t like where the writers were taking her character, Ziva David.

“Unfortunately, because of political things and scripts not being good enough, I chose not to [return to NCIS],” she said, according to Hello! “Look, I love this character! I worked for eight years crafting Ziva when I felt like the character wasn’t being treated with the respect she deserved.”

She noted the writers planned to send Ziva “back to Israel” where she’d live as an “unfortunate, miserable woman.”

“I didn’t think it was fair,” she continued. “I told them until someone can write something really fantastic for Ziva, I won’t come back.”

Pablo’s co-star, David McCallum, felt frustrated that Pablo would walk out on the series. “I just don’t understand how a leading lady in a show that’s worldwide, who ostensibly wants to have a career as an actress, suddenly walks away from such a gem and just vanishes a couple of days before we start production,” he told Digital Spy.

Could she return with Michael Weatherly?

Fans would love to see Cote de Pablo return to NCIS Season 21. Is it possible? While we doubt we’ll see Ziva David in the new season, Michael Weatherly gave fans hope for a reunion.

In January 2023, Weatherly posted well wishes for a new year on Twitter. “It’s time to look at time and enjoy the moment!” he wrote.

“We all would rather look at you and Ziva reuniting and enjoying that moment,” a fan commented.

Weatherly replied, “Stay tuned … for this might be an interesting year for such ‘moments’!”

Does this mean NCIS creators have a reunion in the works? We have no idea, but we hope to see them back.