We have a lot of questions about NCIS: Tony & Ziva. The biggest one right now comes off the back of a comment Michael Weatherly made in an interview. Is this series a limited series?
Weatherly and Cote de Pablo talked to Variety about the new NCIS spin-off series. They discussed about it being difficult to get the series picked up by the network. A few years ago, it likely wouldn’t have happened at all.
It all comes down to the type of show they want to do. Weatherly shared that this isn’t an “evergreen procedural,” which other NCIS shows are known for being. While we knew that the series likely wouldn’t be a procedural due to it being a streaming series, the evergreen part is what has me wondering something. It sounds like this isn’t going to be renewed.
Could NCIS: Tony & Ziva be a limited series?
There are a few things that are in support of the idea that this could be a limited series. The first is that comment about the series not being an “evergreen procedural.”
Now it is possible that the comment of it not being an “evergreen procedural” is more about it not being one of those shows that could keep going with cases of the week. It’s possible that it just means that it will be serialized, and therefore, there is an endpoint somewhere. That doesn’t mean it has to be a limited series, but that there are a limited number of seasons the series could get.
However, the synopsis for the series suggests that it could be a miniseries. The show will see Tony, Ziva, and their daughter Tali have to go on the run around Europe. Someone is after them, and the parents will need to figure out who it is to keep themselves and their daughter safe.
This isn’t the type of storyline that works with seasons after season of storytelling. That would mean a lot of red herrings, and we all know that too many red herrings can get annoying. Plus, with TV now, we can’t even be guaranteed that we’ll get to see how it all works out. It’s sometimes just best to have a season wrap up.
The ending could allow for another story if needed, though. With John McNamara, who was co-showrunner on The Magicians, involved, it’s easy to see how he could wrap up one storyline but put in some seeds for another storyline. This would allow another serialized storyline, keeping it away from the traditional procedural storytelling of the NCIS universe.
Right now, the series hasn’t been billed as a limited series, but it sounds like it could be. Is that really a bad thing?