Though fans have been clamoring for NCIS: Tony & Ziva ever since the spinoff series was announced, there have been concerns from long-time fans about the upcoming series. At least one of those concerns can be put to rest.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva picks up in the franchise timeline after the titular original NCIS characters left the flagship series. The duo now lives in Paris, working in private security and raising their daughter, Tali.
ScreenRant’s Rachel Foertsch attended 2025’s San Diego Comic Con and spoke with cast members Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, as well as showrunner John McNamara, about what to expect from the series. One of the topics examined was something often seen as a weakness in drama series.
Child Actors Are Always A Risk For A TV Show Or Movie
NCIS: Tony & Ziva Is The First Franchise Series With A Child Lead
Though children and family programming employ child actors regularly, dramas or sitcoms aimed at older audiences are less likely to have child actors as part of their main cast. That is because utilizing a child actor in a main role can be risky.
There are always filming complications when a child is introduced to a cast that employs mostly adults. Children can only film for a small number of hours at a time. The rest of their time on set is typically taken up with school.
Children also have to have guardians on set to help make decisions about the filming process for them. Sometimes, that’s a parent. Other times, that person is a manager or another professional member of their team who acts on the parents’ behalf.
Outside of the added scheduling around schooling and the additional people on set, child actors can also be risky as performers. Even the most talented children can have trouble focusing on the work because they’re kids, not adults, having to do a job in a world populated by people much older and with more experience than them.
Child actors are not always as convincing as adult actors. With children who have less experience on camera, it can be clearer to the audience that they are play-acting instead of embodying the role. That can take the audience out of a scene.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva will premiere on September 4, 2025, on Paramount+.
Despite all of those moving parts and potential risks, NCIS: Tony and Ziva has a child actor as one of their main cast members. It’s the first NCIS series to have a child as a lead actor, which has left some fans apprehensive about the series.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s Tali Actress Isla Gie Is Reportedly Phenomenal In The Role
Cote de Pablo Gushes About Isla Gie
NCIS fans have no reason to be worried about the addition of Tali as a main character in NCIS: Tony & Ziva. In addition to Cote de Pablo’s comments about her NCIS return, she has nothing but good things to say about the young actor.
De Pablo spoke at length with ScreenRant’s Rachel Foertsch about what it was like working with Gie. She called Gie “perfect for the show” and praised her curiosity and interest in the work they were doing.
The young actor is just as engaged in the work as the actors playing Tony and Ziva.
According to de Pablo, Gie even asked about the possibility of performing her own stunts in the series. As someone who has a background in gymnastics and theater, Gie is used to more actively embodying a performance than TV might allow.
De Pablo also noted that Gie paid close attention to de Pablo and Weatherly’s work in their scenes together. The younger actor asked questions about how they achieved the level of emotion needed for take after take.
You can read Cote de Pablo’s full comments about Gie below:
She’s terrific. In fact, I think we’ve told the story a couple of times, but we had a fight sequence in the first episode, and I could see that she was so incredibly fixated, and she was just watching everything, and she was really into it. And at one point throughout the season, she said, ‘Is it okay if I do my own stunts?’ We said, ‘There’s no way that you’re going to do your own stunts.’
But she comes from a background of gymnastics, so she’s like a top-notch gymnast, and she’s really kind of kick ass. I mean, she could do a lot. She lives in her body, and she also comes from the theater – I think she was Matilda on the West End.
So she’s kind of fascinated by this world. She had these really interesting questions. The first time we worked together, I think it was saying goodbye in the first episode. And we had these very sort of emotional scenes, and I was saying goodbye, and then Michael was saying goodbye. Tony was saying goodbye after everything.
[Isla] would come back and she would ask things like, ‘How can you get emotional on every take?’ I said, ‘Oh, this is a really interesting person because she’s really watching it with intense curiosity. She wants to learn. She’s kind of tracking behavior.’
And so one, the whole physical thing of coming from a gymnastics background, that was very interesting. But then the idea that she’s also tracking performance and wanting to learn and asking all these questions, it was fascinating to watch because we were like, ‘Oh my God, thank you. Thank you for sending us this being.’ I mean, she’s sort of perfect for the show, and perfect as our daughter.
Based on de Pablo’s comments, there is no reason to be worried about Tali’s presence or Gie’s performance in NCIS: Tony & Ziva. The young actor is just as engaged in the work as the actors playing Tony and Ziva.
Gie is actively learning and honing her craft while working on NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which means she is sure to be an asset to the show rather than a risky addition.
