‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ Gets Sneak Peek at Mipcom as Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo Tease Paramount+ Spinoff Series

CANNES — “NCIS” fans attending Mipcom got a treat Tuesday as stars of the upcoming spinoff “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” joined Dan Cohen, head of Paramount Global distribution and Republic Pictures, to show off the character reunion that has been 12 years in the making.

“What a luxury it is to revisit a character after such a long time,” Cote de Pablo told the crowd at the Palais as she and Michael Weatherly took the stage at the Palais. De Pablo and Weatherly worked together on “NCIS” for 10 years, playing longtime co-workers who always seemed to have a romantic spark between them. The pair haven’t been seen together on screen in the “NCIS” universe since 2013, when de Pablo exited as a series regular.

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“I thnk the fans have always wanted to see what happened between them,” de Pablo said. “Tony & Ziva” is set to premiere next year on Paramount+.

De Pablo introduced a clip that showed the former “NCIS” characters Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David living together as a couple in Europe, raising their child “who is almost a teenager, fantastic little Tali, and they are trying to make their relationship work,” she said.

Weatherly joked that he had to lose weight to return to the role of DiNozzo.

“We do a lot of running” in production, he said. “It’s a highly physical production process for both of them. He also noted that the show’s setting in Paris and other iconic locales makes “Europe a performer in the show.”

De Pablo observed that fans never stopped asking her about the fate of her character, which has returned for a handful of guest shots on the series since her departure after Season 11. “There’s just a lot of love, always, from the fans,” she said.

The heart of the new series revolves around the family dynamics and their law enforcement past catching up with DiNozzo and David even as they are far removed from the United States. “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” is “about a family in jeopardy trying to do the right thing in hairy circumstances,” Weatherly explained.

Earlier in the session, Cohen outlined Paramount Global’s strategy of assembling a big bundle of TV shows and movies that can be licensed to be made available the Paramount brand name to regional streaming services around the world. Cohen noted that the studio’s first such deal was unveiled last year at Mipcom with Greece’s Cosmote TV subscription service. Today, the studio has similar content bundles licensed to streamers in 80 markets, with the most recent deal being struck with BeIn Media for the Middle East and North Africa.

“It’s a triple win,” Cohen said of licensing a large volume of content rather than trying to go it alone in Greece and other markets. “It’s great for our licensing partners, it’s great for the industry” and the creative community, he said.

FAST streaming channels are also a priority to help Paramount make the most of its vault of 3,000-plus movies and 10,000-plus episodes of TV. “We have such a deep library,” he assured the crowd.

The session closed with a tribute from Mipcom organizers to session moderator Anna Carugati, editor at large of World Screen magazine. Carugati is stepping down from World Screen after nearly 30 years and many hours of duty as a Mipcom moderator.