Michael Weatherly’s Initial Reluctance and Evolving View on NCIS: Los Angeles Spin-Off
Michael Weatherly, known for his role as Tony DiNozzo on NCIS, initially had reservations about the show’s spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles. Despite the spin-off’s success, Weatherly was hesitant about overlapping with the second series, believing that his character worked best within the context of his original NCIS team.
When NCIS: Los Angeles debuted, it quickly became a hit, ranking as the second most-watched show at the time, just behind the season seven premiere of NCIS. Although Weatherly was excited about the spin-off’s success, he was initially reluctant to participate in crossovers. He expressed his concerns to TV Fanatic, saying, “I won’t do a crossover, unless they put a gun to my head. It won’t help them, and my character is really only valuable in the context of Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee. Robbed of his context, that guy might really be inappropriate.”
Despite his reservations, Weatherly eventually embraced the idea of crossing over. In 2015, he appeared in the NCIS: Los Angeles episode “Blame It on Rio.” Reflecting on the experience, Weatherly acknowledged the value of exploring his character in different settings. “They’re a peak experience for someone like me. For 13 years, besides a tiny part here and there, I’ve just been playing DiNozzo. So having other experiences with the character is super important to me,” he told TV Insider. He was initially nervous about how DiNozzo would fit into the Los Angeles team and how the audience would react. “To be honest, I was a little nervous about going into NCIS: Los Angeles because I wasn’t sure how DiNozzo would be received—not just by the team, but by the audience,” Weatherly admitted.
Weatherly found the crossover refreshing and enjoyed the dynamic with the Los Angeles cast. “I felt like, ‘Oh, s***, am I aging out of the game?’” he said, reflecting on his role alongside younger, more athletic co-stars like Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah.
Looking back, Weatherly was surprised by the franchise’s success. He recalled thinking he would have bet a significant amount of money against the idea of both NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles becoming top shows. “It’s been the kind of year,” Weatherly told NJ, “that, if seven years ago, you had come up to me and said, ‘Michael, there’s an NCIS: LA with LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell, and it’s the No. 1 new show on television, and your show is the No. 1 show on television,’ I would have bet you maybe $40,000 that you were lying.”
Weatherly’s parents, however, worried that the success of Los Angeles might signal an end to his own time on NCIS. His mother even humorously suggested he might want to adjust his wardrobe. “After the second episode aired, my mom called from Rhode Island and said, ‘It’s a big year. You don’t want to maybe bring it down like two inches off the waist?’” Weatherly recalled with a smile.
