‘NCIS’ director delights Ziva David’s fans with a surprise photo of Cote de Pablo, Michael Weatherly

NCIS Season 13: Fans cross fingers for the return of Cote de Pablo's Ziva David — Cast members (L-R) Rocky Carroll, Mark Harmon, Cote de Pablo and David McCallum participate in a panel for CBS series NCIS during the CBS sessions at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, California January 11, 2012. REUTERS/Phil McCarten

“NCIS” director Dennis Smith recently got over two thousand Twitter ‘likes’ for a photo of himself together with Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo. The duo is popularly known as ‘Tiva’ to fans of Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, both “NCIS” characters. (See the tweet below.)

Spoiler alert: This article includes a bit of “NCIS” Season 13 spoiler. If you are not familiar with the latest character to return to the series, read at your own risk.

Cote de Pablo left “NCIS” two years ago, causing a stir among Tiva followers. De Pablo has spoken a number of times about her unexpected departure. While promoting “The Dovekeepers,” a miniseries that aired in CBS -- the home network of “NCIS” – de Pablo said she would have wanted some closure for her character. The actress maintained that she remained friends with her “NCIS” family.

Smith (@NCISDIR on Twitter) has tweeted a few times about some Ziva David memories. He is known to de Pablo’s fans as someone who understands why they are still hoping for a Tiva reunion – despite the odds.

Captioned lightly, the photo seems to be a groufie snapped after a friendly get-together. It quickly drew hundreds of retweets. As of this writing, the photo is still the latest post in Smith’s feed.

Smith directed the “NCIS” Season 7 premiere called, “Truth or Consequences,” a landmark episode in the Tiva history. This is where Ziva gets rescued by McGee (Sean Murray), DiNozzo and Gibbs (Mark Harmon). There are 60 “NCIS” episodes credited to Smith on IMDB. His latest work is a recent “NCIS Los Angeles” episode, where DiNozzo meets the L.A. team.

“NCIS” showrunner Gary Glasberg said in September that Ziva David is not returning to the show anytime soon. Still, Tiva fans are hopeful for their favourite characters’ reunion. This hope was fueled by the return of Jeanne Benoit (Scottie Thompson) in a recent “NCIS” Season 13 episode.

"There'll definitely be some surprise appearances of people from our NCIS past, but Ziva David is not one of them," Glasberg told TVGuide.

Cote de Pablo is currently promoting “The 33,” a film about 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground in 2010. This is the actress’ first movie since leaving “NCIS.” Joining de Pablo in this film are Juliette Binoche, Antonio Banderas and Gabriel Byrne.