NCIS: Tony & Ziva is set to pick up where the characters left off after leaving the flagship NCIS series. Set in Paris, the spinoff is a spy thriller that will also address the will-they-won’t-they nature of the relationship between the titular characters.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva is set to premiere on Paramount+ on September 4. The series has been years in the making. With fans getting impatient to see the former NCIS investigators back in action, there are a handful of shows with similar character dynamics and storylines to fill the void.
Watching these shows can provide a break from watching the first 13 seasons of NCIS all over again.
8
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024-)
Available To Stream On Prime Video
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is inspired by the movie of the same name, but the two projects take very different approaches to the story. In the streaming series, the titular characters do not know one another, but are recruited to work for a spy organization, pretending to be a married couple as they do.
This series is for those fans who enjoyed the episodes of the original NCIS series in which Tony and Ziva went undercover together. Mr. & Mrs. Smith goes more in-depth in the experience of undercover agents who live a completely different life than the one they know.
While the series is first and foremost a spy-thriller, like NCIS: Tony & Ziva, it’s also a romance. The two main characters slowly fall for one another while doubting their commitment to the agency and struggling with trust issues.
One season is available to watch so far, but season 2 is in development. The first season of Mrs. & Mrs. Smith makes a good Tony & Ziva stand-in.
7
NCIS: Hawai’i (2021-2024)
Available To Stream On Paramount+
It stands to reason that if someone wants to spend more time with NCIS characters, they should visit another NCIS series. NCIS: Hawai’i is one of the shortest chapters in the NCIS franchise, and it debuted long after Tony and Ziva had already exited the franchise.
Despite that, it’s a good series to watch while waiting for NCIS: Tony & Ziva. The series was canceled after three seasons, making it a relatively quick watch for fans of the franchise.
The entire NCIS franchise is available to stream on Paramount+, including new additions NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney.
It’s set away from the primary NCIS offices in the flagship series, just as NCIS: Tony & Ziva will be. While the show operates on a case-of-the-week format like most crime procedurals, it also has overarching narratives for two different love stories in the series.
Those love stories, which exist between members of different military or government organizations, do not feature quite as much banter as Tony and Ziva have, but they do feature similar conflicts since Ziva began her work with Mossad and Tony with NCIS.
6
Wild Cards (2024-)
Available To Stream On Prime Video
Wild Cards is not as straightforward as a crime procedural as the NCIS franchise. Instead, it’s more character-driven by the two leads, which fans of the relationship between Tony and Ziva will appreciate.
The series follows a demoted police officer (Giacomo Gianiotti) and a con woman (Vanessa Morgan) who end up paired together on cases in order for him to get his detective job back and her to stay out of jail.
The dynamic is a bit flipped here compared to Tony and Ziva with Max, the con woman being the more laid-back and sarcastic of the two.
The leads have a similar will-they-won’t-they dynamic to Tony and Ziva, and they have fantastic chemistry together. Wild Cards lends more to undercover work than the original NCIS series did, and it fleshes out family backstory for the leads a little faster than in NCIS, since the ensemble is not as large.
Two seasons have aired so far, but seasons 3 and 4 have already been renewed by CBC Television in Canada.
5
Covert Affairs (2010-2014)
Available To Stream On Peacock
If the spy-thriller aspects of Tony and Ziva’s work appeal to the audience, then Covert Affairs is a good watch. It follows a CIA recruit as she struggles to keep her job a secret, and she digs into what happened to an ex-boyfriend.
Part of the fun of the show is actually the banter and eventual relationship that develops between Piper Perabo’s Annie and Christopher Gorham’s Auggie. While their relationship often provides levity in the series, the show is still a drama.
Covert Affairs deals with the preservation of state secrets, the flipping of political assets, and plenty of life-or-death stakes. Covert Affairs is able to balance the humor and the drama in the same way that the NCIS franchise does.
4
Magnum P.I. (2018-2024)
The First Four Seasons Are Available To Stream On Prime Video
Magnum P.I. is a remake of the classic Tom Selleck series. Like the original, it is set primarily in Hawaii. Like both the original and NCIS, the show is a crime procedural as well.
It shares some similarities to the upcoming NCIS: Tony & Ziva spinoff series. The main characters of Magnum P.I. are all former military members or military-adjacent who now work in the private sector.
In Tony & Ziva, Tony runs his own private security firm, using the skills he learned in his previous line of work to follow a career path outside of the government, not unlike the Magnum character.
The central pairing of the series also has similar chemistry to Tony and Ziva in that they frequently banter and push the lines of professional boundaries until they ultimately fall for one another.
3
Castle (2009-2016)
Available To Stream On Hulu
Castle kicks off with a homicide detective (Stana Katic) who is shadowed by a writer (Nathan Fillion) while working for the New York Police Department. Like so many of the shows similar to NCIS, Castle is a crime procedural.
That means there is a case-of-the-week format here, but like the Tony & Ziva spinoff series, there are also overarching mysteries that run for a full season of the show.
Like Tony and Ziva’s relationship, the main Castle characters do not initially get along. They find themselves at odds over how to handle cases, largely because the titular Castle is not supposed to actually be doing police work.
Over time, however, their bickering turns to more affectionate bantering, and the two end the series as a couple.
2
Bull (2016-2022)
Available To Stream On Paramount+
After Michael Weatherly left NCIS in season 13, he followed the series with Bull. Though Weatherly intended not to work on network television again after the long hours and commitment to NCIS, Bull landed in his lap.
For Tony and Ziva fans who enjoy Weatherly’s performance as Tony the most, Bull is a great series to watch until they return to the screen. The series is a legal drama instead of a crime procedural, though, so it’s something different for NCIS fans.
The series is not as action-heavy as NCIS, but Bull does allow the audience to see a different side of Weatherly’s performance. Weatherly is not as laid back as Tony, but he does have some of the same mannerisms since it’s Weatherly playing both characters.
Bull has plenty of mysteries related to the legal cases Weatherly’s titular character consults on, but it is a more character-driven series than NCIS, allowing the audience to dig into the characters and their relationships a bit more.
1
Burn Notice (2007-2013)
Available To Stream On Hulu
Though Burn Notice is a lot like crime procedurals in that there is a new mystery each week, the show has a much longer narrative as Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) searches to find out who is out to get him after his spy identities are “burned” and he is abandoned in Miami.
Michael spends a lot of the series trying to stay under the radar of local law enforcement and using his skills to help the locals. He also has a handful of contacts in the spy world who help him, including his volatile ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar).
The dynamic between Michael and Fiona is not unlike that of Tony and Ziva as they are both experts in their fields, work well together, but also find themselves butting heads in more personal situations.
By the end of the series, Michael and Fiona are in a much better place, leaving their former spy lives behind and raising a child, also not unlike Tony and Ziva.
Like Burn Notice, not all of these series will be an exact match to the upcoming NCIS: Tony & Ziva, but they will certainly provide fans with similar stories to explore.
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