We hear there are two big episodes coming up for your character, Ziva. What can you dish about the episodes?

It’s a two-part episode where the whole Israeli team comes back from Israel, including Ziva’s father. So obviously that’s going to be a big thing for Ziva because she finally gets to confront her father for sending her away on, basically, what I would call a suicide mission. They get to see each other after all of that and there’s conflict.

Is Ziva’s dad going to let her know that he’s sorry for what he did?

These characters are able to justify [their actions] because they come from a country that’s at war. You learn to sympathize with her dad, who’s played so beautifully by Michael Nouri. The audience will get some answers, but there’s more to come.

Rumor has it that the two-part episode will deal with bombs and bombers. Is stuff going to be blowing up left and right?

Stuff is going to be blowing up, and not only that, but it was a crazy episode to shoot because there were sooo many stunts for me. And so that was a little hard. I had a big fight sequence, I had to shoot a lot—there was a lot of gunfire—and there was one huge explosion in which a whole kitchen blows up and I’m in the middle of it! Needless to say it was fun, but incredibly challenging.

Ziva is a weapons expert, so that means she can create bombs herself, can’t she?

Oh yeah! For sure. We’ve never done it on the show so I think its something we’re going to explore. In that particular episode, Abby (Pauley Perrette) asks, ‘can anyone make this type of a bomb?’ and all of the Israeli’s that are in the room raise their hands. It’s kind of funny the way we are all very well taught in the art of making them.

For years, NCIS fans have been waiting for ZIva and Tony (Michael Weatherly) to become a couple on the show. Is that ever going to happen?

You know what? I have no idea. But people love that tension between these two characters. It’s great and we definitely play around with it, because we both love it. We enjoy working with each other and there’s an innate chemistry between us.

How does it feel, as a Latina, to be playing one of the biggest badasses on TV, in terms of strong, female characters?

I don’t know how it feels as a Latina, but I’ll tell you what it feels like as an actor: fantastic! I’m an actor playing a role and I think it’s fantastic that people can play any type of role—and that I am playing this particular role—it’s awesome. We get a lot of Latinos in this show that don’t play Latin and the first thing they say is how cool it is that I’m playing an Israeli character.

You’ve been on this show for a long time now. Are you planning to stick around for as long as the show does?

We’ll see. You can say, I want to be here forever, but the truth is you can only enjoy every day as it comes and hopefully get the most of it. As of now, I’m in my sixth year and it’s been an awesome journey. We’ll see if I’m lucky enough to come back next year. I would love it.

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AS THE REYNOSA CARTEL’S VENDETTA AGAINST GIBBS REACHES A BOILING POINT, THE TEAM FINDS THEMSELVES BECOMING TARGETS � IN THE CONCLUSION OF LAST SEASON’S CLIFFHANGER, ON THE EIGHTH SEASON PREMIERE OF “NCIS,” TUESDAY, SEPT. 21

Ralph Waite (“The Waltons”) Reprises His Role as Gibbs’ Father, Jackson

Muse Watson (“Prison Break“) Reprises His Role as Gibbs’ Mentor, Mike Franks

Marco Sanchez (“Walker, Texas Ranger”) Reprises His Role as Alejandro Rivera, a Mexican Justice Department Official

Jacqueline Obradors (“N.Y.P.D. Blue”) Reprises Her Role as Paloma Reynosa, the Head of the Reynosa Drug Cartel

“Spider and the Fly” – With Paloma Reynosa still on the loose, Gibbs must take desperate measures to protect the ones he loves in the eighth season premiere of NCIS, Tuesday, Sept. 21 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS
NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Mark Harmon
NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Michael Weatherly
Probationary Special Agent Ziva David: Cote de Pablo
Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard: David McCallum
Abby Sciuto: Pauley Perrette
NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee: Sean Murray
NCIS Director Leon Vance: Rocky Carroll

RECURRING CAST
Jimmy Palmer: Brian Dietzen

GUEST CAST
Jackson Gibbs: Ralph Wait
e Mike Franks: Muse Watson
Alejandro Rivera: Marco Sanchez
Paloma Reynosa: Jacqueline Obradors
West Virginia State Trooper Sergeant Paul Westgard: Andrew Thacher
Estaban Lopez: Burton Perez

DIRECTED BY: Dennis Smith
WRITTEN BY: Gary Glasberg

Even the great ones need an assist once in awhile. Muse Watson will reprise his role as Mike Franks, Gibbs’ mentor, on the season premiere of NCIS, according to Fancast.

Rocky Carroll (Vance) says that despite the events of May’s season finale, everyone on the team “is still alive and well,” although “We’ve got a few old scores to settle.”

When we left NCIS, Paloma Reynosa had just entered the store where Jackson Gibbs (Ralph Waite), his dad, works. All indications are that Gibbs’ father lives … but how?

Enter Mike Franks. The Reynosa Cartel, after all, is one giant score to settle, and one that looms as a significant threat to Gibbs on both personal and professional levels.

In the penultimate episode of Season 7, “Patriot Down,” Gibbs tried to contact Mike with a simple message: Rule 44. But Col. Bell and Pvt. Dean were not after Franks.

Here’s a photo of the tandem in the Season 8 premiere, titled “Spider and the Fly.” How do you think Gibbs’ mentor will help him take down this formidable adversary?

Season 8 Episode 2 will be called “Worst Nightmare“