Next season is looking like Old Home Week for CBS’s NCIS franchise. Yesterday, we learned that Mark Harmon was returning as Leroy Gibbs on the next season of NCIS: Origins. Now, one of the mothership NCIS series’ original cast members is returning for next season.

According to reports, Michael Weatherly is returning to NCIS as Tony DiNozzo for a season-long arc in the show’s upcoming 24th season. Weatherly originally departed the show in its 13th season finale in 2016. He had recently returned alongside fellow ex-NCISer Cote de Pablo in NCIS: Tony & Ziva, a Paramount+ exclusive spin-off series. It was cancelled after airing a single season, leaving the fates of the characters open; and while we now know that Weatherly is set to return, there’s no word on whether de Palbo will return alongside him. So far, CBS is staying mum about what Weatherly’s arc will entail.

Who Is Tony DiNozzo?

Ex-cop Tony DiNozzo was recruited to Leroy Gibbs’ Major Case Response Team, which responds to high-profile criminal cases involving the Navy or Marine Corps; he first appeared on the JAG two-part episode that served as a backdoor pilot for NCIS. A wisecracking, womanizing male chauvinist, DiNozzo often rubbed his teammates the wrong way; however, over time, his exposure to the MCRT’s many capable women softened his attitudes. Most important to him was ex-Mossad agent Ziva David (de Pablo), with whom he had a fraught will-they-won’t-they relationship that captivated the show’s fanbase for several seasons. It ended when David left the team to return to Israel; it also led to the end of DiNozzo’s tenure with the team, when she was killed in a terrorist attack and DiNozzo left NCIS to raise their secret daughter. However, it eventually turned out that her death had been faked, and the two reunited on the series Tony and Ziva, which proved to be short-lived. It remains to be seen whether their relationship will survive its cancellation.

Another notable name is returning to NCIS this fall, as well. The new series NCIS: New York will star LL Cool J as Sam Hanna, a character he originated on NCIS: Los Angeles and later recurred as on NCIS: Hawaiʻi after the former’s cancellation.

Season 24 of NCIS will premiere on CBS in the fall; no premiere date has yet been announced.

via Collider