Does NCIS Star Cote de Pablo Have Kids? Here’s the Truth!

Cote de Pablo, best known as Ziva David on NCIS, does not have children in real life. The actress keeps her personal life private, and there’s no public record of her being a mother.

However, on-screen, it’s a different story. In the NCIS universe, Ziva has a daughter, Tali, with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly). Their journey as parents continues in the upcoming spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, where they navigate family life while facing new dangers across Europe.

Filming for the spinoff began in Budapest in July 2024, with Isla Gie playing Tali. While de Pablo embraces motherhood in her role, she has not done so off-screen.

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. An upcoming NCIS spinoff will give fans more insight into Ziva’s relationship with Tony DiNozzo.

Updated by Alex Roush on November 18, 2024: Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo are officially returning in their very own NCIS spinoff series, reuniting audiences with the fan-favorite characters years after their departure from the original series. Many viewers of NCIS continue to wonder why Ziva left NCIS in the first place, and what has happened to her character in the years since. This article has been updated to include more information about the NCIS spinoff, enhance the reader experience, and adhere to CBR formatting guidelines.

Who Was Special Agent Ziva David on NCIS?

Ziva David First Appears in Season 3

Ziva David’s first NCIS appearance was in the Season 3 premiere as an agent of the Israeli Mossad. She was introduced in a tumultuous time on NCIS, shortly after Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd had been suddenly killed by Rudolf Martin’s Ari Haswari in the Season 2 finale. Things were slightly awkward because, as it turned out, Ziva was Ari’s half-sister. But it didn’t take long for Ziva to declare her allegiance to the right cause, shooting Ari to save Gibbs.

After that, Ziva became a liaison officer between her father, the director of Mossad, and NCIS’s Director Jenny Shepard. She served in that role for four years throughout three seasons. She then returned to Mossad but was captured in Somalia while on assignment before Gibbs, Tony, and McGee rescued her. Following this traumatic experience, she resigned from Mossad and became a probationary NCIS agent and a US citizen.

Ziva’s time at NCIS finally came to an end in Season 11. She, Tony, and McGee resign from NCIS to protect Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from a dangerous political vendetta. However, unlike Tony and McGee, Ziva chose not to rejoin the agency when the issue was resolved. Instead, she returned to Israel and was supposedly killed offscreen in Season 13 during an attack on her father’s farmhouse. Viewers later learned that Ziva and Tony had a daughter named Tali. After finding out the news, Tony also chose to leave NCIS.

Why Did Ziva Leave NCIS?

She Left After Season 11

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• In a 2013 interview with TV Guide, Cote de Pablo indicated that she left NCIS because of a personal issue: “As far as my decision to leave, that’s a personal thing, and I’d rather leave it at that.” However, in a 2016 Q&A about her departure, she told a different story, which involved how her character would be treated in the future. She noted, “They were going to send [Ziva] back to Israel and assemble her an unfortunate, miserable woman. I said, ‘What do I leave all the women that are watching and following the show?’ And I didn’t think it was fair. So, I said, ‘Unless someone can really write something fantastic for [Ziva], I won’t go back.’“

  Highest-Rated Episodes of NCIS Featuring Cote de Pablo
  Episode	Release Date	IMDb Rating
  Season 13, Episode 24, “Family First”	May 17, 2016	9.2/10
  Season 7, Episode 1, “Truth or Consequences”	September 22, 2009	9.1/10
  Season 5, Episode 7, “Requiem”	November 6, 2007	8.9/10

  Even with all that, fans still don’t have a complete answer as to why Cote de Pablo left NCIS after Season 11. However, some cast members, including David McCallum, were markedly disappointed by her sudden choice to leave. Regardless, fans were unhappy with how Ziva was written off and clamored for a cameo appearance for years. Nevertheless, for many years, Ziva was completely absent from any of the shows in the NCIS universe, killing any hopes for a return — that is, until Season 17.

• When Does Ziva David Return To NCIS?

  Her Surprise Return Comes in Season 17

  

  While NCIS had spent many years claiming that Ziva was dead, a shocking twist in Season 16 revealed that the character had actually faked her own death and was still active somewhere in the shadows. Finally, six years after her departure and apparent offscreen death, Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David returned in the Season 17 premiere “Out of the Darkness.” In a four-episode arc broken up throughout the season, Ziva teamed up with her old colleagues at NCIS, including agents Gibbs and McGee, in an attempt to find the individuals who had attempted to kill her just before she went underground.

• Ziva must once again embrace her history as a ruthless assassin to defeat the enemy hunting her down. But first, she must regain the trust of her former colleagues who, despite being glad to see that their old friend is not dead, are wary of trusting her after she lied about her fate for so long. Eventually, she can convince them to help her in tracking down the mysterious “Phineas,” who seems to want her dead.