by Addie Heffernan '30 on October 22, 2026
A&E - Film & TV
While NCIS is now three episodes into its 24th season, drawing over six million viewers for its premiere, the now-beloved procedural started out with a limited fanbase. The first two seasons, spanning 2003–2005, introduced the world to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his colorful team of personnel and forensic experts: Tony DiNozzo, Kate Todd, Tim McGee, Abby Scuito, and Donald “Ducky” Mallard. While the characters were certainly entertaining and the cases compelling, it wasn’t until the season two finale, when recurring villain Ari Haswari shot Kate on a rooftop, that audiences finally started paying attention to Washington’s Major Case Response Team, which was now grieving the loss of an integral member. Season three marked the beginning of a new era of NCIS, ushering in two new main cast members: Cote De Pablo as Officer Ziva David, the newly appointed liaison, and Lauren Holly as Director Jenny Shephard. Both characters make their first appearances in the first two episodes of season three, “Kill Ari: Part 1” and “Kill Ari: Part 2.”
These first two episodes start off right where season two ended, bringing the audience along for the ride as Gibbs sets out to get revenge for Kate’s murder and foil Ari’s attempts at harming the rest of his coworkers. Ziva is called in to protect her half-brother, Ari, during this cat and mouse game, though she ultimately chooses to save Gibbs instead. Upon the request of the newly appointed Director Shephard, Ziva fills the now vacant spot on the team, becoming Tony’s new partner and using her skills as an assassin to assist the team in the field while learning the finer points of investigative work under Gibbs’s tutelage.
The season finale is just as action packed as its opening, with Gibbs losing his memory and quitting NCIS in the final minutes of the episode, leaving Tony in charge and Ziva, Abby, McGee, Jenny and Ducky reeling. After spending an entire season watching this team slowly become a family, leaving it fractured once more in an intense cliffhanger kept fans on the edges of their seats and ready to tune in that next fall when season four aired.
It is the chemistry of this new team that skyrocketed NCIS in popularity. Ziva and Tony’s instant chemistry began nearly a decade of will-they-won’t-they tension between the pair, and McGee took on a more confident role, no longer the newbie on the team. While the cases provide an interesting backdrop, of course, it’s the Gibbs Kids that steal the show with their banter and wit, which are only enhanced by Gibbs and Jenny, who spend just as much time tiptoeing around each other as they do encouraging the young personnel under them. It is this dynamic that serves as the catalyst for why the show is so beloved, as this team and their formation in season three remain popular even 20 years later and have left a lasting legacy on the franchise itself.