The NCIS Villain Michael Weatherly & Cote De Pablo Want For The Tony & Ziva Series
"NCIS: Tony & Ziva" is starting to pull its cast together. The show's looking for everyone from Tali DiNozzo to a tough-sounding nanny, but there's one face that hasn't made their way into the casting call – a villain to hound Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) as they race all over Europe trying to figure out who attacked Tony's company and if they can truly trust each other.
Weatherly and de Pablo have an idea about who might be the best big bad possible for the drama — though they don't know how to include him. Piping up on their new podcast series "Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch," they both mentioned the same character – Ari Haswari (Rudolph Martin of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame), an icy-cold terrorist filled with dry wit who won't hesitate to shoot to kill ... and a man who happens to be Ziva's half-brother. Martin happened to be their guest star, and he sounded fairly amenable to the subject. The actors pointed out that they'll be filming the show in Budapest soon, and indicated they'd love to see him on the set. Martin, meanwhile, said he's often sent audition requests by casting directors working for the "NCIS" spin-offs but has resisted, knowing he's too familiar a face to that universe.
Indeed, the name "Ari Haswari" is likely to send chills down the spines of NCIS fans everywhere. Unfortunately, bringing him back to the fold might require a resurrection spell; the character is very dead, having been shot right through the forehead during the second part of Season 3's "Kill Ari" by Ziva herself. But de Pablo has a solution for that.
Cote de Pablo thinks that Ari could come back as a ghost
How in the world could Ari Haswari return to the "NCIS" universe if he's dead? Cote de Pablo suggested Ziva's half-brother could resurface as a ghost. Who else would Ari haunt but the half-sister who tried to stick her neck out for him — only to see her betray him to save Leroy Jethro Gibbs' (Mark Harmon) life?
It remains to be seen who'll be pushing Ziva and Tony's buttons this time out; no further casting calls for the spin-off have leaked as of press time. And whether he pops up as a spirit, a demon, a vision, or simply a David cousin who looks a little too much like Ari, Rudolph Martin would definitely be an excellent addition to the cast of "NCIS: Tony & Ziva." Perhaps somehow they could make it work. As Cote de Pablo hinted as the podcast episode draws to a close, "I don't know, I think something just opened up."