NCIS (season 11) | |
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Season 11 U.S. DVD cover
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Starring |
Mark Harmon Michael Weatherly Cote de Pablo Pauley Perrette Sean Murray Brian Dietzen Rocky Carroll David McCallum Emily Wickersham |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 24 |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Original release | September 24, 2013 | – May 13, 2014
Season chronology | |
The eleventh season of the police procedural drama NCIS premiered on September 24, 2013, in the same time slot as the previous seasons, Tuesdays at 8 pm. Special Agent Ziva David (de Pablo), departs during the season with her final appearance being in "Past, Present and Future". The episode "Crescent City (Part I)", which aired on March 25, 2014, serves as the first of a two-part backdoor pilot of a second spin off from NCIS called NCIS: New Orleans based in New Orleans.
On February 1, 2013, CBS renewed NCIS for this season. The same date Mark Harmon extended his contract on the show with a new "multiyear deal" with CBS. It was announced on July 10, 2013 that Cote de Pablo, who plays Ziva David, had chosen not to return for the eleventh season as a regular. She will appear in enough episodes to close out her character's storylines. Because of de Pablo's exit, showrunner Gary Glasberg had to change his planned storyline for season 11. "Someone asked me if I was planning for this, but I really wasn't, so basically the minute that this became real, I had to throw out a lot of what I was planning to do and start from scratch". Glasberg has stated that there will be rotating characters coming to fill Ziva's role.
The theme for the season is "unlocking demons", both figurative and literal according to Glasberg. A "pretty interesting adversary" about the theme will be introduced, and "that will carry through the season".
Colin Hanks returned for the premiere episode as Defense Department investigator Richard Parsons, a character introduced at the end of the tenth season, while Marina Sirtis returned in the second episode as Mossad Director Orli Elbaz. Joe Spano also reprised his role as Senior FBI Agent Tobias C. Fornell in the first two episodes. Muse Watson (as Mike Franks) appeared in the fourth episode. Ralph Waite (as Gibbs' father Jackson Gibbs) and Robert Wagner (as Tony's father Anthony DiNozzo, Sr.) are also confirmed to return.Diane Neal reprises her role CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin in episode six "Oil & Water".