NCIS’ season 24 premiere began with a shooting and ended with a new director that fans didn’t see coming — and Michael Weatherly’s Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo was at the center of it all.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 24, episode 1 of NCIS.
The new season of NCIS picked up in the dark alley after Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) confronted Timothy McGee’s (Sean Murray) son, Mateo (Patrick Keleher), for seemingly hacking into one of their computers during his visit to headquarters.
While viewers heard a gun go off during May’s season 23 finale, fans didn’t know who was shot until the Tuesday, October 6, episode.
No, it wasn’t Torres and it wasn’t Mateo. Instead, it was none other than McGee’s former coworker Tony, who just happened to be in the neighborhood at the time of the altercation.
“Once it became clear Michael Weatherly was going to come back [as Tony], then the question is, well, ‘What’s this man’s intro? He deserves something really big,’” showrunner Steven D. Binder exclusively told Us about how Tony’s return came to be, following his exit from NCIS in 2016 after 13 seasons.
Binder explained that while they could have had Mateo shoot Torres or Torres shoot Mateo, the writers didn’t find those options “particularly exciting.”
“But Tony, that seems pretty fun. Especially the idea that McGee’s son shoots Tony. I mean, awkward,” he said with a laugh.
During the premiere, McGee was in a total panic when he learned that someone was shot and he couldn’t find Mateo. However, when Tony popped out of the ambulance, he was put at ease — even if it was only for a minute.
Tony’s wound wasn’t deep or life threatening, but Mateo was still on the run and no one knew why he took the classified information from NCIS.
As the episode progressed, viewers learned that Mateo was used as a way for bad guys to get to the Secretary of the Navy’s (Sec Nav) daughter, whom they kidnapped.
McGee, meanwhile, was benched alongside Torres by the new NCIS Deputy Director Gabriel LaRoche (Seamus Dever), who made it clear that things would change under his reign.
Tony, who was back in Washington, D.C., to set up a satellite office for his private security company, decided to team up with McGee and Torres to figure out what was going on and protect Mateo. (Tony’s on-again, off-again girlfriend and former NCIS partner Ziva David was revealed to be in the States as well, watching over their daughter, Tali, as she attended a new private school in Boston.)
Despite LaRoche’s best efforts to cut the NCIS team off at its knees, the group solved the case and saved Sec Nav’s daughter. They also found Mateo and learned who had blackmailed him into stealing from NCIS.
As the episode came to an end, Sec Nav (Jillian Armenante) met with Tony and revealed she previously offered him the job of NCIS Deputy Director and he turned it down. Now, however, with LaRoche being fired for his inability to lead, Tony was the top choice — and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“He is hesitant. I think the Sec Nav says to him, ‘Your country needs you,’” Binder told Us of the surprising job change for Tony. “As much as he’s been a goofball and a frat boy and a playboy and whatever — you can say all the bad things about Tony DiNozzo — he has always been an impeccable professional in terms of getting the job done.”
The showrunner noted that Tony won’t be “a reluctant director” but he will do it his way.
“He’s going to get in there. He’s going to do it differently. He’s going to do it the DiNozzo way,” Binder said. “He’s unconventional for sure, but he’s going to be professional and he’s going to be effective.”
While it’s been nearly 10 years since Tony has worked with NCIS in an official capacity, his connection with McGee — he used to call McGee “probie” because he was the new kid when Tony was part of the team — will remain a constant.
Binder explained that their past dynamic as “big brother versus little brother he picks on” has shifted now that they are both parents.
“McGee’s got more experience being the director than Tony has. McGee has been the interim director, so in some ways the tables are turned on these two,” he teased. “Who’s the probie now is the way to think about it.”
Looking to the rest of the season, Binder told Us that Tony will handle his new job with movie quotes — he even “solves the case because of Goonies” at one point — but will also show more maturity.
“The second episode is essentially Tony’s first day as director,” he shared. “It’s the first time we’ve seen him. It’s not until we get to the third episode that you’re really, like, ‘We’re back to normal now,’ and even then, you’re still trying to figure some stuff out.”
NCIS airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
