[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 finale, “Full Circle.”]
The enemy of my enemy … Such is the case for Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) in the Season 1 finale of their thrilling Paramount+ spinoff. In order to stop Jonah (Julian Ovenden), they and Martine (Nassima Benchicou), who had been right alongside him, framing the pair, must work together.
It’s because they do that they’re able to save Tali (Isla Gie), whom he’d had kidnapped and stop his nefarious plans for 9.4, which had been created by hacker Boris (Maximilian Osinski), and have the weapons drone target him — until they realize Tali’s in the line of fire as well. In the end, everyone’s okay, Tony and Ziva’s names are cleared, Jonah’s arrested — but then dies in his prison cell, clearly orchestrated by Martine — and Martine’s moving up in Interpol. Tony and Ziva are back together, with Tali’s blessing, and Ziva gives Tony a heartfelt gift: a framed photo of Henry and Tali together. Oh, and Boris is probably joining Tony and Claudette’s (Amita Suman) company because Fruzsi (Anne-Marie Waldeck) was playing him and made off with all his money.
Below, showrunner John McNamara breaks down the finale, reveals what was changed in the final cut, and teases what could be coming in Season 2. (The series has yet to be renewed.)
Tony and Ziva are firmly together again, and they seem to be making it work. You’ve really highlighted how much they trust each other now, which has clearly been an issue between them in the past, especially with this finale. That was what was needed more than anything when it comes to having a future together. Right?
John McNamara: Yep. Yeah, it’s funny though, a few of the fans with all goodwill would ask me and I didn’t answer because I would say watch the show, but a lot of fans were a little bit off put by the fact that they weren’t together in Episode 1 and my response was and always has been, you have them be [apart] and the story brings them together. Otherwise, you don’t have a story.
To me, the thriller aspect, which is very fun to plot, and I’m a Bond aficionado, as is Michael Weatherly. We love espionage and spies, and we could do all the fun stuff we’ve talked about for decades. We’ve been friends for 30 years. But to me, I said to Cote and Michael on day one, this is a little love story, and we’re going to use the thriller to bring these people together because otherwise they’re too stubborn and they’re too set in their ways. If it wasn’t for Jonah Markham, they would never have gotten together.
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Talk about ending the season with them in a really good place, both as a couple, but also as individuals, especially after that conversation about Ziva wanting to kill Jonah. It’s not like it’s completely gone away, but she is in a much better place than she was in the flashbacks we saw this season.
For sure, yes. And that was very intentional. Well, what is not going to be a secret for long, there was originally a different ending. We shot a different ending, much darker, much more of a cliffhanger. But when I finally looked at the cut and the wonderful work that the actors did and the director did, and how much I felt really connected to Tony and Ziva in that apartment with the picture of Henry, I really felt like that’s the end of the story. That if we’re going to do something else big and thriller-ish and whatever, let’s say that for Season 2, if there is a Season 2, by the way, I want to jinx myself with the show, but it was a very different ending, and it was really well executed by the director and the actors. I just made the command decision of let’s end on a rest, not a crescendo. I honestly think by the end of this episode, you’re exhausted, and to end on something that would’ve been more exhausting, it didn’t quite feel right to me.
What was that cliffhanger that you were going to have?
I can’t tell you because it’ll be the beginning of Season 2, which doesn’t exist yet.
But everything else would’ve been the same. It just would’ve been something additional.
Yeah, and we shot it, we cut it, we scored it. It was great. It was really well done. It just felt wrong somehow.
We saw how their attempt to get married in the past went. Do you see them as a couple that gives that another go or focuses more on being committed to each other before they start planning another wedding?
I don’t know. That’s a Season 2 question. I think a lot’s going to depend on — I think I’m going to start with what’s the most emotionally turbulent place I can put them without torturing the audience too much. And then how can that story, in a way, make them not part but test the relationship? Now the relationship is solid, so I’m going to now test it. Season 2 is a stress test.
So you’re looking more so at external factors after the internal is what was really keeping them apart in Season 1?
Yeah. Well, also what’s great is externals can then bring up new internals.
The wedding guest list that we saw in the flashback on the piece of paper included quite a few of their former coworkers.
Oh my god, you are so good at this. [Laughs]
Should they get married, would the hope be for a big crossover, or would you kind of do what you did with the flashbacks this season and write around that?
I would love some kind of a crossover. I really would. I think the whole franchise is wonderful. I got to know Brian [Dietzen] a little bit at Comic-Con. He just seems like he’s a riot. I think as both a showrunner and a fan, I think that’d be fun if we can work it out. Part of the challenge, though, is, I don’t see a universe in which this show is not shot in Europe and they’re in LA or New Orleans or Sydney or Hawai’i. So, that’s a little bit of a challenge just in terms of scheduling, but things can work out. You never know.
Marcell Piti/Paramount+
I kept waiting for some sort of connection between Martine and Ziva or Tony or both from the past. Might that still be coming or can you rule that out?
I have never thought about that. That’s a good idea. You should write an episode.
How much do Tony and Ziva trust Martine, and how much does she trust them at this point? What is that dynamic like going forward? They had to trust each other in a very specific set of circumstances.
Yes, I would say that they’re very relieved and happy that she turned out to be a better person than they thought, but they’re not naive, especially Ziva. She is not easily fooled. I think she trusts Martine about as far as she [can] control her, which is maybe five feet based on the fight in Episode 8.
What’s that dynamic like going forward, do you think? Is it just, if they can benefit each other, they will, otherwise maybe just stay out of each other’s way, or is it we should call on each other if we need to?
I honestly don’t know. You have better ideas than I do. I don’t want to do any spoilers for Season 2, but definitely, I want Martine to be a part of it.
Martine organized Jonah’s death and is moving up at Interpol. Why did you want to leave her on that note?
I just thought it was fun. A lot of what I do and of what most writers do is just instinct. What would keep me watching the show? The thing I always think about is everybody has a clicker in their hand, and if they get bored, they [turn it off] and they’re watching Tulsa King, and so I thought it was interesting. First of all, I believed it, that she’s capable of that, for sure. And I also thought it put a little smudge on her redemption, and then it will put a question mark on her future.
Yeah, I was going to ask, how much of a concern is it with her in that position of leadership? Because even after her conversation with Lazar (Velibor Topic) about what they do with the sin they carry, it seems like she can still be a very big threat, depending on what else is in her past that could be coming back.
Yeah, remember in Episode 7 or 8, I think 7, where Lazar hints that Martine’s father is a very powerful, very dark player in the world of espionage. In a way, she’s a little bit of a mirror of Ziva. That was sort of the intent because Ziva was trained by her father at a young age as we know, and I think Martine had a similar childhood, but even darker. So I think there’s stuff there that’s interesting.
Marcell Piti/Paramount+
Boris working for Tony’s company. First of all, that would be hilarious. Is that really likely to happen? Would Boris really settle down into an office job? He doesn’t have money now, so he might have to.
That’s exactly right. He’s totally broke, and I think he’s also less likely to commit crimes now that he’s sort of been with — I think Claudette had a bigger effect on Boris than Boris had on Claudette. I think she really helped him define boundaries and lines and loyalties and family. I think he likes being part of the family, I do. I think he had a terrible childhood. It’s hinted, I think it’s Episode 2, where you find out he was in a closet and had to lie about coding and all this stuff. I think it’s a relief to him not have to hide all the time, but I think also, leopards don’t entirely change all their spots, so he might be up to something behind the scenes.
But then there’s also what happened with Fruzsi and the fact that she wasn’t what she seemed to be. When you ended Season 1 with that, were you thinking that that could be a storyline for him going forward? Would he want to go after her? Would he want to leave that in the past?
I have absolutely no idea. I’m not being disingenuous. I have no idea.
What did you like about having that end for Boris in the first season?
I love seeing characters who have a lot of bravado have that bravado stripped away so you can see what’s underneath. In a way, Fruzsi was kind of his bravado. She was a cheerleader; she was his enabler. She was in love with him, he thought. He was totally in love with her, and basically, his life was completely turned upside down as a writer. I love that. Max did a great job.
And there were little moments that hinted that there was more to her than met the eye.
Yes, exactly.
So, Tali loved her. Love that you see how much of Tony and Ziva she really is, especially at the cabin. Then you have her iffy about her parents getting back together and having fun with them about that in the finale. Talk about adding that layer to the family dynamic.
I think the dynamic was there, and I think it was in Episode 7 when she said, are you guys getting back together? And they’re like, no. And she’s like, good. And then throughout the season, they’re hiding the fact they slept together. I think they’re a little bit afraid of her. [Laughs] She’s a force, as is the actor who plays her. Isla is wonderful. And I think they definitely want her to be happy. That’s the number one thing with her. They want to be good parents. So they probably both feel really guilty about the wedding that was called off, and yet Tali’s fine with that, which I think is surprising to both of them. Really surprising is she has no interest in them getting back together, and now that they are, she’s going to torture them a little bit.
Which was so good. How are you feeling about the chances of a second season?
I’m not a pessimist, but I’m also not an optimist. I’m a realist, and it’s entirely going to depend on the data, the numbers. How many people watch? How many people subscribe? Did they stay with the season? Did it build? Are they going to binge? People can now binge it. Those are all factors that are — I mean, I think creatively, everyone at the studio and Paramount+ is pretty happy with the show. But honestly, I just don’t know what the numbers… I haven’t seen the numbers. Those get shared usually 30 days after the last episode airs. We’ll be having Thanksgiving turkey when I get the numbers.
Because it’s so different with streaming. Broadcast television, it’s so easy to know the numbers.
Yeah, I’m so jealous of Matlock. They knew it was a hit and they just picked it up. It’s a very good show.
What could we see in the second season?
I started Season 1 really wanting to explore the dynamics of a movie that I’ve always envied, one that I wish I’d written. I think any writer of thrillers would’ve loved to have written North by Northwest. It’s probably one of my top 10 movies. I kind of have a movie in mind that is also like that, a classic and really amazing and kind of was a defining towards time and just toying with that as kind of a jumping off point and the same way the North by Northwest was sort of my north star.
Can you say genre?
Romantic thriller.
Would it still be the one case over the course of a season like we saw in Season 1?
That’s what I would like. That was probably one of the biggest questions we all had as we were breaking the season and sharing our stories and outlines with the studio: Would this work on a show that’s never done this and is a really well-wrought case of the week procedural? And I think it’s successful. I think the audience likes it. I think it’s creatively exciting for the actors. It’s creatively exciting for the writers. It’s got its own challenges. You have to plot the whole thing before you write one script, and then you change as you go along. A good example is, I had no idea Boris would be played by such a great actor, so I just kept giving him more stuff to do. He was so great.
The answer to your question is, yeah, I’d like to do a single story. I’d like it to be a thriller. I love the location. The first eight episodes were in Budapest, which is a wonderful city. Also, by the way, looks a lot like Paris. I probably would love to go back to Budapest, and then I’d love to find another country to jump them into. I have no idea what the country is. It’s just a country that has to be warm in December. That’s why we went to the Canary Islands to shoot the final two. It was so cold in Budapest, it just would’ve looked weird. We started it in summer. We started shooting in July and by the time we got to November, we were putting in CGI leaves, the breaths were showing.
Besides what you were talking about earlier, what else could we see from Tony and Ziva in a second season?
They’re going to undergo as always, maximum stress test. I want to create a story that really tests, now they trust each other and they have a bond, how solid is that bond?
Who would return besides Michael and Cote?
I’d love Boris, Claudette, Sophie (Lara Rossi), obviously Tali. Martine, I think, is really intriguing and fun.
Well, I’ll say that I absolutely love the character of Archie (James Lance).
Oh my God, of course. My God, Archie and Dr. Lang [Terence Maynard], I’d love to have them both. I’d love to have them in the same scene.
I know! And the Archie and Tony therapy session…
Yes. Huge kudos to the writers, Mike Moore and Christina Strain. They really just knocked it out of the park and Michael and James were wonderful too.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Season 1, Streaming Now, Paramount+
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