Is Michael Weatherly Returning To NCIS With Bull Canceled? - CBR

There’s no doubt that NCIS Season 19 has been a bit difficult for fans. Agents Sloane and Bishop both left the series before the season started. Then it took all of four episodes in Season 19 for Gibbs to officially call it quits. To make matters worse, it looks like Season 19 could end up being Torres' last. With all this turnover, viewers definitely due for some good news -- and if the rumor mill is true, a longtime cast member might be making his reappearance.

When Tony DiNozzo left the series in Season 13 to go after Ziva, he left an irreplaceable hole in the series -- but it always seemed like he could come back because of the open-ended way the character was written out. Now, because of the cast turnover on NCIS and circumstances in his own career, it feels like now or never for Weatherly to return as Tony DiNozzo.

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Weatherly played DiNozzo for 13 seasons before departing the series in order to take the lead role in CBS’s legal drama Bull. However, from the very beginning, he never ruled out a return to NCIS. In his 2016 statement regarding his exit from the series, the actor said "[DiNozzo] will live on in the hearts and minds of the viewers and is embedded in the show...I would absolutely be open to anything and everything, including things that no one's even thought of yet."

Since then, Weatherly hasn’t let fans forget about his character. His own social media accounts have been one of the biggest proponents for DiNozzo's return. In 2018, he tweeted, "I will always be ready to play DiNozzo when the time is right." Then just last year, he posted a picture of himself in NCIS garb with the caption: “#ncis Camera is King.” Weatherly seemed to be stoking an invisible fire until now, but a recent development has made NCIS fans wonder if he knows something they don't.

CBS recently announced that Bull will be coming to an end after Season 6 -- making Weatherly free to work on other TV shows. It gets better than that, though, because the network didn't cancel the show; Weatherly decided not to continue with it. Addressing the news on his Twitter account, Weatherly stated that he was stepping away to “pursue new creative challenges.” Of course, NCIS fans have already decided that those unspecified creative challenges are a return to NCIS.

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While the idea might sound like fan service, it’s the perfect time for Weatherly to bring DiNozzo back into the NCIS fold as a guest star or even a series regular again. If Torres does leave, there will be an opening on the team that DiNozzo could easily fill. Others have speculated that he could take over as team leader since fans are still adjusting to Gary Cole as Gibbs' replacement Alden Parker. One of the best ideas, though, might be for DiNozzo to have just a cameo appearance in Season 19 -- to develop another NCIS spinoff.

DiNozzo currently lives in Paris with Ziva and their daughter Tali. An international NCIS spinoff with Weatherly and Cote de Pablo as the leads would make fans’ dreams come true and be a sure ratings success. CBS’ FBI: International has been successful in its first season, so it's not the most farfetched premise, and new arrival NCIS: Hawai'i has proven there's still an appetite for more of the franchise. Regardless of how it happens, if Michael Weatherly is serious about returning to NCIS, this is the time for him to do so.

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To see if Michael Weatherly cameos in Season 19, watch NCIS on Monday nights at 9 pm. ET on CBS.

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