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Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly dropped into Cannes to talk NCIS: Tony & Ziva and gave the MIPCOM crowd a surprise first look at their upcoming Paramount+ series. In the clip, Weatherly’s Anthony DiNozzo could be seen bouncing off car bonnets, as he and de Pablo’s Ziva David indulged in their usual snappy dialogue and locations including Paris flashed on screen.
The NCIS stars joined Paramount Global’s Chief Content Licensing Officer and President of Republic Pictures Dan Cohen for his MIPCOM keynote, bringing some U.S. star power to Cannes. Cohen brought the business to proceedings by spelling out how NCIS is a serious earner for Paramount Global Content Distribution. “Keep in mind there are 1,000 episodes — we’ve done over four and a half billion dollars of licensing on NCIS,” he said.
Cohen’s keynote got off to a madcap start as Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob and Bill Fagerbakke, the voice of Patrick Star in SpongeBob SquarePants, introduced the veteran exec with a short skit in character.
When they took to the stage, De Pablo and Weatherly shared the short teaser clip and then got into the weeds on their new show.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva picks up after Ziva’s supposed death when Tony left the NCIS team to go raise their daughter. Years later, Ziva was discovered alive, leading her to complete one final mission with NCIS before she was reunited with Tony and their daughter in Paris. Since then, Tony and Ziva have been raising their daughter, Tali, together. When Tony’s security company is attacked, they must go on the run across Europe.
In the clip Ziva tells their daughter: “If anyone tries to hurt us, we’ve planned for it.”
“We haven’t seen these characters since 2013 and I think the fans have always wanted to see what happened between them,” said de Pablo. “In our first season, they’re going to get a fix of what has happened.”
Asked why the series came about, the actors and series exec producers said they had experienced huge recognition around the world from fans and that made the international setting feel right.
Weatherly added that when they started out they had no idea that characters would be on the air over 20 years later. He said that the series will have an “international, global feel”, given the location and shoots, which took in Budapest and other European destinations.
Before the Tony and Ziva show somewhat took over, Cohen had kicked off his session by announcing that rights for a new movie had been snagged for Republic Pictures, the revived label he runs as President. The label has taken North America on Adulthood, the latest project from Alex Winter, who helms and appears in the movie. The cast also includes Josh Gad (Gutenberg! The Musical!), Kaya Scodelario (The Gentlemen), Billie Lourd (Booksmart) and Anthony Carrigan (Barry).
Billed as a darkly comic, modern-noir, it follows a brother and sister who when they discover a dead body, long buried in their parents’ basement, the are pulled back to the hometown they ran away from and into a rabbit hole of crime and murder.
Cohen said Republic Pictures is in the market for “interesting indie films to complement the huge tentpoles the studio has.”
