Michael Weatherly Returning to ‘NCIS’ for Season 24 Arc as Tony DiNozzo

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Jul 2

**Photo Credit: Marcell Piti/Paramount+**

The former series regular is heading back to the flagship CBS drama for a season-long storyline after revisiting Tony DiNozzo in Paramount+’s ‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva.’

Tony DiNozzo is heading back to ‘NCIS.’

Michael Weatherly, who starred as Tony DiNozzo across the first 13 seasons of the long-running CBS procedural, will return to the flagship series for its 24th season. The actor is set for a season-long arc, bringing one of the franchise’s most recognizable characters back to Washington, D.C. after years away from the main team.

Details surrounding Tony’s return are being kept under wraps, but the move continues a wave of legacy-character activity across the ‘NCIS’ universe. Weatherly’s comeback arrives shortly after CBS confirmed that Mark Harmon will also return to the franchise with a season-long on-camera role on ‘NCIS: Origins,’ reprising Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the prequel’s upcoming season.

Weatherly last appeared on the flagship ‘NCIS’ in 2024 during “The Stories We Leave Behind,” the tribute episode honoring David McCallum’s Ducky Mallard. Before that, he exited the series in 2016 after 13 seasons, with Tony leaving NCIS to raise his daughter Tali following the presumed death of Ziva David. Ziva later turned out to be alive, keeping the Tony-Ziva mythology alive long after both characters left the main show.

That story continued last year with ‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva,’ the Paramount+ spinoff starring Weatherly opposite Cote de Pablo. The series gave fans a long-awaited chance to spend more time with Tony, Ziva and their family dynamic, but it was canceled after one season. Weatherly’s return to ‘NCIS’ now gives CBS a way to bring Tony back into the core franchise while reconnecting him to the team and the procedural world where he first became a fan favorite.

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The current ‘NCIS’ cast includes Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Brian Dietzen, Diona Reasonover, Katrina Law and Gary Cole. Of that group, Murray and Dietzen have the deepest shared history with Weatherly’s original run, having overlapped with Tony during the earlier years of the series. Valderrama joined in Season 14, immediately after Weatherly departed to lead CBS’ ‘Bull.’

The timing makes sense for CBS. ‘NCIS’ remains one of television’s most durable franchises, and bringing back Weatherly adds nostalgia without fully resetting the show. A season-long arc also gives Tony’s return more weight than a one-off cameo, allowing the writers to reintroduce him gradually, reconnect him with familiar faces and potentially explore how the character has changed since fatherhood, Ziva and years away from the team.

It also gives the flagship series a major hook heading into Season 24. Procedurals often thrive on stability, but long-running franchises need periodic jolts to remind audiences why they stayed invested in the first place. Tony DiNozzo’s return does exactly that. He is not just another former agent. He is one of the characters who helped define the tone of ‘NCIS’ during its peak years, balancing crime-solving, banter, emotional loyalty and the easy charisma that made the team feel like a family.

With Harmon returning on ‘NCIS: Origins,’ Weatherly back on the flagship and ‘NCIS: New York’ joining the franchise roster in 2026-27, CBS is clearly leaning into the scale and longevity of its most reliable procedural universe. The strategy is not subtle, but it is smart: expand the franchise while bringing back the faces that built it.

Tony’s next case may still be classified, but his return is already one of the biggest pieces of ‘NCIS’ news in years.