{"id":4117,"date":"2025-12-31T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=4117"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:09:00","slug":"ncis-fans-react-as-tony-dinozzo-is-officially-replaced-almost-a-decade-after-his-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=4117","title":{"rendered":"NCIS Fans React as Tony DiNozzo Is Officially Replaced Almost a Decade After His Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been nearly a decade since\u00a0<strong>Michael Weatherly<\/strong>\u00a0left\u00a0<strong>NCIS<\/strong>, and only now does the series seem to have found a true successor to Tony DiNozzo. Despite running for more than 20 years, the franchise remains strong, with multiple spinoffs and its first streaming entry,\u00a0<strong>NCIS: Tony &amp; Ziva<\/strong>, reuniting Weatherly with\u00a0<strong>Cote de Pablo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4118\" src=\"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FB_IMG_1767200912632-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FB_IMG_1767200912632-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FB_IMG_1767200912632-1024x820.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FB_IMG_1767200912632-768x615.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FB_IMG_1767200912632.jpg 1186w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Before that spinoff, Weatherly briefly returned in NCIS season 21 for Ducky\u2019s farewell episode, a nostalgic but unlikely bridge to a full-time comeback. With the future of\u00a0<em>Tony &amp; Ziva<\/em>\u00a0still uncertain and DiNozzo\u2019s return to the flagship improbable, NCIS season 23 has quietly introduced his ideal replacement.<\/p>\n<p>That honor goes to Special Agent Dale Sawyer, played by\u00a0<strong>Zane Holtz<\/strong>. Though Sawyer has appeared since season 18, his season 23 return fully establishes him as DiNozzo\u2019s successor. His sharp suits, sarcastic humor, and underestimated competence mirror classic Tony, while showing real growth beyond his earlier portrayal as a nuisance.<\/p>\n<p>Sawyer\u2019s expanded role-especially his evolving dynamic with Torres-adds depth to both his character and the team. After years of underuse, NCIS now has a strong reason to feature him more often. With proper development, Dale Sawyer could help the series move forward while still honoring DiNozzo\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been nearly a decade since\u00a0Michael Weatherly\u00a0left\u00a0NCIS, and only now does the series seem to have found a true successor to Tony DiNozzo. Despite running for more&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4119,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions\/4119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}