Cote de Pablo 'NCIS' Exit: Actress Says Her Character Ziva Was 'Disrespected'

Back in 2013, “NCIS” announced that Cote De Pablo would be leaving at some point in the show's eleventh season. De Pablo played the hardcore Mossad officer, Ziva, for eight seasons of the hit CBS drama. And now, three years later, the actress is explaining why she decided not to come back to the show as Michael Weatherly who plays Agent DiNozzo prepares to say goodbye.

In a Q&A while promoting her movie “The 33,” de Pablo said her decision was partly because the scripts “weren’t good enough” amongst other political reasons. “I worked eight years crafting this character and loving her. I felt or I perceived that the character was not being treated with the respect that I thought she deserved,” the actress explained.

In addition, “They were going to send her back to Israel and make her a sad, miserable woman. I said ‘What do I leave all the women that are watching and following the show?’ And I didn’t think it was fair,” she continued.

Even though the relationship between DiNozzo and Ziva is a crucial part of the show, the two actors are hoping something fantastic is written to give Weatherly’s character a proper goodbye, involving Ziva in some way or another.

At the time, executive producer Gary Glasberg wrote an open letter to fans of the show explaining what they should expect in the two-part episode depicting Ziva's exit. “I did not plan on the departure of Ziva David. We've been busy the last couple of months making this work and handling the situation," Glasberg wrote. “Now I've finally 'come up for air' and I wanted to reach out to you, the greatest fan base in the universe and fill you in on what's coming, how we are feeling about all this, and assure you we're doing some really terrific work and feeling confident about moving on.” After thanking the fans, Glasberg finished by insisting, “Like I've said multiple times we respect Cote's decision immensely and wish her all the best.”