NCIS Season 24: Tony DiNozzo’s Return and Everything We Know So Far

After more than two decades on television, NCIS is heading into Season 24 — and this time, one of the show's most familiar faces is coming with it.

Michael Weatherly is officially returning as Tony DiNozzo for a season-long story arc, putting him back alongside several characters he hasn't worked with regularly in nearly a decade.

And Tony isn't simply dropping by for a nostalgic cameo.

CBS has already made him part of its official Season 24 cast, while showrunner Steven D. Binder has revealed new details about what brings DiNozzo back to Washington and how he will fit into the NCIS team that exists today.

Here's everything confirmed so far about NCIS Season 24.

When Does NCIS Season 24 Premiere?

NCIS Season 24 premieres Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Episodes will also be available through Paramount+, with availability depending on the subscriber's plan.

CBS renewed NCIS for Season 24 back in January as part of a large group of renewals for the 2026-27 television season.

The October 6 premiere will also kick off a full night of NCIS programming.

Following NCIS at 8 p.m., the new spinoff NCIS: New York premieres at 9 p.m., followed by the Season 3 premiere of NCIS: Origins at 10 p.m.

But for longtime fans of the original series, the biggest story is considerably more personal.

Tony DiNozzo is coming home.

Michael Weatherly Is Returning as Tony DiNozzo

CBS confirmed in July that Michael Weatherly will reprise his role as Tony DiNozzo throughout Season 24.

More importantly, this isn't being described as a one-episode guest appearance.

Weatherly will appear in a season-long arc, reuniting Tony with the NCIS team and giving the writers considerably more time to explore what has changed since he left.

Weatherly was one of the original show's defining cast members, playing DiNozzo for 13 seasons and appearing in more than 300 episodes before leaving as a series regular in 2016.

He briefly returned to NCIS in Season 21 following the death of Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, and more recently reunited with Cote de Pablo for NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

Season 24, however, represents something different.

For the first time in years, Tony will be spending significant time inside the world of the original NCIS again.

Why Does Tony Return to Washington?

We now know the answer.

Showrunner Steven D. Binder revealed that Tony has a practical reason for returning to Washington, D.C.

Following the events of NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Tony's daughter Tali is attending boarding school in the United States. Tony decides to stay closer to her and begins establishing a Washington satellite office for his private security company, Salus Mondiale.

Then something happens involving NCIS that catches his attention.

That pulls Tony's new life directly into the orbit of his old one.

It's a clever way of bringing DiNozzo back without pretending the last decade never happened.

Tony isn't simply putting his old badge back on and returning to his former desk.

He's older. He's a father. He has built a life outside NCIS.

But suddenly he is once again surrounded by the people, memories and instincts that shaped much of his adult life.

Tony and McGee Will Be Very Different This Time

Of all the reunions Season 24 can offer, Tony and McGee might be the most interesting.

When Tony left the team, Timothy McGee was still the younger agent DiNozzo had spent years teasing as "Probie."

That relationship can't really exist anymore.

McGee is now an experienced senior field agent, a husband and a father.

Tony has changed too.

Binder explained that although both men have grown considerably, their old friendship is still there underneath it all. They've also apparently remained in contact during the years Tony has been away.

That gives the writers something better than simply recreating old jokes.

Tony and McGee can fall back into their familiar rhythm while discovering that they're meeting each other again as two very different men.

Tony Meets the NCIS Team That Replaced His Era

Tony's return also creates something NCIS has never really had the opportunity to explore.

He knows McGee and Jimmy Palmer extremely well.

But Alden Parker, Jessica Knight, Nick Torres and Kasie Hines belong largely to another era of the show.

Binder says Season 24 will deliberately explore those relationships.

Tony apparently sees something familiar in Torres — potentially viewing him as the newer version of the confident, unpredictable agent Tony himself once was.

Parker's reaction is very different.

Parker knew Director Leon Vance well and understands Tony's history with Vance and the agency. Binder described their early interactions as slightly awkward, with Parker essentially trying to figure out exactly what to make of this NCIS legend who has suddenly appeared in his world.

Jessica Knight may produce another interesting dynamic.

The Tony DiNozzo who left NCIS in 2016 isn't exactly the same man returning in 2026. Binder specifically suggested that the old womanizing version of Tony would have interacted with Knight very differently.

This Tony is older, committed and raising a daughter.

That change appears to be part of the point.

Even Kasie becomes part of Tony's adjustment.

He's returning to a forensic lab he forever associates with Abby Sciuto — only to discover that Kasie has made it entirely her own.

And then there's Jimmy Palmer.

Apparently, Tony may even end up staying at Palmer's house for a while.

Considering the personalities involved, that alone could be worth watching.

Will Ziva Appear in NCIS Season 24?

At the moment, fans shouldn't expect it.

Binder says Cote de Pablo's Ziva and Tony's daughter Tali are not currently set to appear during Tony's Season 24 storyline.

The explanation inside the story is straightforward.

Tali is attending school a few hours away while Ziva stays close to her, and Tony is working in Washington while also trying to remain near his daughter.

That means Tony's return doesn't undo the family life established in NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

In fact, it appears the opposite is true.

His role as Tali's father is one of the main reasons he's in Washington at all.

Of course, on a franchise built around surprise appearances, fans are unlikely to stop hoping for a Ziva reunion.

But based on what has actually been confirmed, Season 24 should currently be viewed as Tony's return, not a full Tony-and-Ziva return.

Who Is Returning for the NCIS Season 24 Cast?

CBS currently lists the main Season 24 cast as:

• Gary Cole as Alden Parker
• Sean Murray as Timothy McGee
• Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres
• Katrina Law as Jessica Knight
• Brian Dietzen as Dr. Jimmy Palmer
• Diona Reasonover as Kasie Hines
• Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo

Weatherly is specifically billed by CBS as part of Season 24 following the announcement of his season-long arc.

One familiar name missing from that regular cast list is Rocky Carroll.

Season 23 dramatically changed the team when Director Leon Vance was killed, although Carroll later returned as Vance through flashbacks in the season finale.

Vance's absence leaves a major hole inside NCIS heading into the new season — and Tony's return becomes especially meaningful because he knew Vance long before most of Parker's current team did.

Season 23 Left NCIS With Another Major Cliffhanger

Tony isn't the only unresolved story waiting for viewers.

The Season 23 finale, "Sons and Daughters," brought the team into another bombing investigation one year after an earlier deadly attack.

It also continued McGee's developing relationship with Mateo, the teenage son he only recently discovered he had.

Then the episode ended with gunfire.

Torres and Mateo were both caught in the moment, and the episode cut away without immediately revealing the full consequences.

Showrunner Steven D. Binder confirmed afterward that somebody was hit, ensuring the fallout will carry into Season 24.

That gives the premiere plenty to resolve even before Tony's story begins to unfold.

Could Gibbs Return Too?

Mark Harmon remains connected to the NCIS franchise and is still listed among the executive producers of NCIS. But this fall, his more direct comeback is happening elsewhere: Harmon is returning as Gibbs in NCIS: Origins, the prequel series, for a season-spanning case that links the past with the present — not in the flagship NCIS show itself.

As of now, CBS has not announced Mark Harmon as a Season 24 guest star on the original NCIS. So any Gibbs-and-Tony reunion on the mothership should stay firmly in the wish-list category unless CBS says otherwise.

Still, with DiNozzo back for an entire season and Harmon returning to the franchise in a different corner of it, the old NCIS universe suddenly feels much closer to the surface than it has in years.

Season 24 Feels Like NCIS Looking Back Without Going Backward

Bringing Tony DiNozzo back could easily have been nothing more than nostalgia.

Instead, the early details suggest NCIS is attempting something more interesting.

Tony won't return as the same agent who walked away at the end of Season 13.

McGee isn't his Probie anymore.

Palmer isn't the nervous young medical examiner Tony once knew.

The team is no longer Gibbs' team.

Vance is gone.

Parker is in charge.

Knight, Torres and Kasie have built relationships Tony was never part of.

That's exactly why his return has potential.

Season 24 can put one of the show's most recognizable characters into an NCIS that continued evolving without him — and then see where he still fits.

More than 20 years after NCIS first premiered, that's a much more interesting reason to bring an old favorite back than simply asking him to repeat the past.

And on October 6, Tony DiNozzo gets to walk into that world again.