The dark side behind the scenes: Cote de Pablo and his sex scandal are causing a stir among NCIS fans md20

Cote de Pablo is reflecting on working on NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

The actress, 45, said that making the first season of the NCIS spinoff with Michael Weatherly was “very healing” while speaking at a panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday, Oct. 9.

“Michael [Weatherly] and I had a little dinner at some point, I think it was this year, and we finally had a chat about what that first season was for us,” de Pablo said.

“And I said, ‘Well, what was it like for you to do this?’ We both simultaneously said it was very healing because we never got a chance to really play out most of the things we thought we could on such a long run. Because of the fans and because of this energetic want to do this, all of that could be explored,” she continued.

De Pablo joined the mothership series in 2005’s season 3 as Ziva David – an officer with the Israeli Mossad who later became an NCIS Special Agent. Her character had a close relationship with Weatherly’s Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo.

The actress left the show in 2013 before returning for a brief run of episodes six years later.

De Pablo and Weatherly then reunited for the Paramount+ spinoff, which sees their characters on the run across Europe after finding out that someone is targeting them and their daughter. In addition to reprising their iconic roles, the two actors also executive produced the debut season.

During the panel, de Pablo also talked about pulling together a new cast for the spinoff, which introduced actors Amita Suman, Lara Rossi, James D’Arcy and more into the NCIS universe.

“We met them, we liked them, and then we loved them, because little-by-little you start seeing this very organic thing grow. You never push it as an actor. You kind of go, ‘Well, you have to embrace what you have.’ And of course, you’ve got talent, beauty and all these wonderful things that you’re working with. But then, you start having moments that make you laugh. And then before you know it, you become a family,” she said.

“It’s this really beautiful thing that just very naturally and organically happens,” the actress continued. “To be fair, it’s what Michael and I always talked about too. So I think there was this willingness to create something special.”

At a screening event in September, de Pablo recalled saying goodbye to Weatherly when she left the main series in 2013. “It was a really sad day,” she admitted. “I don’t think Michael and I have really talked much about that day. It was really heartfelt.”

“I remember sort of saying these really beautiful things, like, ‘Thank you so much, and you were such a great partner, and you’ve been such a great friend and you’ve been such a great teacher.’ Little did I know that you would keep teaching me,” de Pablo said.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s season 1 finale will premiere Oct. 23 on Paramount+.