NCIS actress Cote De Pablo has bluntly explained why she left NCIS. She blamed the creators’ poor approach to her character.
Cote De Pablo was one of the stars of NCIS, a CBS TV series that takes a closer look at the lives of employees of a government agency that solves tough Navy-related criminal mysteries. As a regular actress, playing Ziva David, she appeared in the series for eight seasons, becoming an integral part of the production. Even more so, she enjoyed viewer sympathy.
Yet at one point she was missing from NCIS, as Cote De Pablo decided to leave. She hid the reasons for her decision for some time, until finally in 2016, during a Q&A session, she bluntly talked about why she resigned from further participation in NCIS. She confessed that she didn’t like the way her character was treated and the plans the creators had for her.
Look, I love this character. I worked eight years crafting this character and loving her. And so when I felt or I perceived that the character was not being treated with the respect that she deserved, no money in the world [would make me stay]. They were going to send her back to Israel and make her an unfortunate, miserable woman. I said, “What do I leave all the women that have watched and followed the show for so long?” And I didn’t think it was fair. So I said, “Unless someone can really write something fantastic for her, I won’t go back”.
The artist sounded determined and confident in her words. And she persevered in her resolve for 6 years, finally returning to her role at the end of season 16 and a few episodes of season 17.
Apparently, she was persuaded by the new ideas of the NCIS creators, who provided her character with a worthy closure to her story, which certainly pleased fans, and was a pleasant experience for De Pablo herself, who described it in her words, “It really felt like just slipping back into a really comfortable slipper.”
