More than a decade after he left NCIS, CBS star Michael Weatherly is ready to make his return to the long-running hit TV show.
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In a recent announcement, Paramount shared that Weatherly is reprising his NCIS role as fan-favorite Tony DiNozzo in a “season-long arc.”
“We’ve missed this one… welcome back, old friend!” the NCIS team declared in an Instagram post featuring Weatherly wearing his signature DiNozzo sunglasses.
“I’m coming back to NCIS in the fall as Tony DiNozzo,” Weatherly says in a voiceover. “How do I tell people?”
The actor is then seen laughing before the clip ends with, “Tony DiNozzo returns to NCIS Season 24.”
Weatherly appeared as a main cast member on NCIS for 13 seasons. He also appeared in more than 300 episodes. He left the show to star in CBS’ hit TV show Bull, which ran from 2016 to 2022.
The actor then played DiNozzo in the short-lived NCIS spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva in 2025.
Starring alongside Weatherly in the upcoming season will be Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Brian Dietzen, Diona Reasonover, Katrina Law, and Gary Cole.
Weatherly Originally Left ‘NCIS’ For ‘Bull’
While speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association’s 2016 summer press tour, Weatherly opened up about his decision to leave NCIS.
“It came about at the right time,” he said about Bull. “I was burnt out by NCIS, and I was ready for a new challenge. Sometimes change is as good as a rest.”
Weatherly also spoke about NCIS in May of the same year. “It really felt like a circle that had gone all the way around,” he said. “And I really felt happy with the resolution of character and my time on the show.”
While speaking to Variety, Weatherly further shared details about his character’s departure. “What got difficult is it seemed like the character had to go. You can’t be in that No. 2 slot forever. That started to become a constraint to me, and that ended up being some of the tension DiNozzo was having on the team. McGee [Sean Murray] is looking at him going, ‘Will you get out of here? I wanna be No. 2!'”
Weatherly also pointed out that he didn’t regret his decision to leave the show, citing his family as one reason.
“I think a lot about the kids and the time I get to spend with them now at this age at four and two and a-half, which is such a critical time, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he then added. “They just have some extraordinary things going on in their life and they have great questions for me about why frogs and crickets make sort of the same sound?”