Cote de Pable leaves NCIS
7/13/2013LOS ANGELES — Someone call the Mossad: Cote de Pablo is leaving NCIS.
The Chilean-born actress has decided to call it quits after eight seasons of playing Ziva David, the Israeli agent on CBS’ hit crime drama.
De Pablo will return long enough to wrap up her character’s story, but she won’t be staying for the rest of the show’s 11th season.
“We respect Cote’s decision, thank her for being an important part of the NCIS team, and for eight terrific years playing Ziva David,” the network and studio said in a joint statement.
“Cote and CBS share a great respect for the NCIS audience, and we look forward to working with her and the producers on appropriate closure in this chapter of Ziva’s story.”
Earlier this year, Mark Harmon wrapped up a deal to stay in the starring role on NCIS. That deal was reportedly for two more years and will pay him at least $500,000 per episode.
NCIS was last season’s most-watched TV series, averaging more than 20 million viewers per week for original episodes.
De Pablo was brought into the show at the start of season 3, after Sasha Alexander left the show and producers killed off her character.