Cote de Pablo, best known for her role as Ziva David on the CBS hit show NCIS, is returning to the network this spring. No, she won’t be back at NCIS, reprising her role as Michael Weatherly’s (Tony DiNozzo) love interest. She is set to appear in a two-part miniseries called The Dovekeepers instead.
The Dovekeepers is based on the book of the same name by famed author Alice Hoffman. Husband and wife producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett cast Cote de Pablo, along with Rachel Brosnahan, Kathryn Prescott, Diego Boneta, and Sam Neill.
Downey said after the huge success of her Bible miniseries on The History Channel (it drew in over 100 million views), she knew viewers would be “hungry” for Dovekeepers. She also admitted she decided to produce because she isa huge fan of the novel.
“At its heart, Dovekeepers is a love story…there is tragedy, of course, but at its heartbeat, there is beauty and hope,” Downey said on the TCA panel.
The dark story of Masada, which was filmed in Malta, is “profoundly moving,” she said.
WATCH: First look at CBS miniseries #TheDovekeepers with Cote de Pablo: http://t.co/xS0iao8yPB pic.twitter.com/vwFjnowLWs
— Variety (@Variety) January 12, 2015
If it’s any consolation to NCIS fans, and it likely won’t be, The Dovekeepers will air in the spot following NCIS on March 31st. The second part of the miniseries airs on April 1st. Cote de Pablo was surprised to hear this little tidbit of news.
“Really?” she exclaimed after Roma Downey told the Television Critics Association about the March 31 scheduling.
It seems the hope is that Cote de Pablo’s NCIS followers will be “very noisy” in drawing attention to the movie, according to Roma Downey. The project dramatizes the siege of the ancient desert fortress of Masada–now part of Israel–by Roman Empire troops.
Even though this isn’t a reprisal of her role as Ziva David, will you tune in to see Cote de Pablo in The Dovekeepers?