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Cote de Pablo: ‘NCIS’s’ Ziva David Makes TV Return in ‘The Dovekeepers’

Cote de Pablo–best known for her role as Ziva David on NCIS, played alongside Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly–is making her TV return on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in a CBS four-hou...
Cote de Pablo: ‘NCIS’s’ Ziva David Makes TV Return in ‘The Dovekeepers’
Written by Kimberly Ripley
  • Cote de Pablo–best known for her role as Ziva David on NCIS, played alongside Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly–is making her TV return on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in a CBS four-hour miniseries called The Dovekeepers.

    The project is based on an Alice Hoffman novel, and in addition to Cote de Pablo, stars Rachel Brosnahan, Sam Neill, and Kathryn Prescott. The story focuses on the women at the center of a group of Jewish refugees who make a brave stand against the Romans from the ancient mountaintop fortress of Masada.

    The Dovekeepers is produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, who produced The Bible in 2013.

    Cote de Pablo visited Masada prior to playing this role.

    “I had a chance to go to Masada a couple of years ago when I was first doing NCIS. You are on top of a mountain (where) on one end you’ve got the desert and on the other, the Dead Sea. It’s a remarkable story of survival, never giving up hope or faith and holding up to what you believe are important values, principles and dignity,” she explained.

    Rachel Brosnahan, Kathryn Prescott, and Cote de Pablo play the roles of Yael, Aziza, and Shirah, respectively, and they are the women known as the dovekeepers.

    “What these women do is ahead of its time, even for today. They live so connected to their hearts that they can’t possibly betray the thing they feel. … You have these women who have gone through the mill, who have given up everything they love to tell their story. (If) the Romans write it, they will inevitably be the heroes of their story. (Shirah) needs to tell this story of what really happened, the story of her people,” de Pablo says.

    Call it coincidence or call it good planning on behalf of CBS, but just prior to The Dovekeepers premiere on Tuesday is the weekly airing of NCIS. And something fans are undoubtedly wondering is whether or not Cote de Pablo will ever reprise her role as Ziva David.

    “I think it could absolutely be explored,” de Pablo says. “I felt (character Ziva’s departure) was a little rushed but, given how it all played out, I think it was beautiful. I had three beautiful scenes with Michael (Weatherly), who I love dearly. Any time I get the chance to be with him, there’s something kind of magical that happens. It’s been such a love story in many ways.”

    And then she talked about the doves.

    “We had very little time to prepare. It was sort of like, ‘OK, you have two hours to handle birds. And then in two hours, you’ll be in front of the camera with the birds.’ We had to learn really quickly. If you’re holding the birds with anxiety, they will be anxious. We would approach the birds in a more loving manner, like we’d been doing it forever. They just immediately let go and weren’t so fussy. They’re incredibly intuitive beings,” she said.

    Fans of NCIS’s Ziva David can tune in to see Cote de Pablo in The Dovekeepers both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, March 31st and April 1st, on CBS at 9:00 PM ET.

    Do you think Michael Weatherly, Mark Harmon, Pauley Perrette, and Sean Murray will watch?

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