PRE-FINALE EPISODES | When last we tuned into TV’s most watched drama, “We discovered that Ziva has been working on her own little investigation behind the scenes,” to hunt down the man who killed both her father and Vance’s wife Jackie, says showrunner Gary Glasberg. Starting April 23, that arc “really kicks off, when we send Ziva off with Tony on a clue trail that leads them to Berlin. The episode is a combination of the [Ilan] Bodnar manhunt and then some really nice Tony/Ziva stuff as well.” Meanwhile back in D.C., Gibbs must contend with new Mossad director Orli Elbaz, played by Star Trek: TNG’s Marina Sirtis. (“In the real world there has never been a woman at the head of Mossad and that was something that we wanted to try,” Glasberg explains. “Marina showed up and just nailed it.”)
MAY 14 SEASON FINALE | Feeling heat from not just the Mossad but his own government, as Ziva and others chase a man some would prefer left alone, Gibbs’ “world gets rattled a little bit at the end of the season,” Glasberg says. And in such a way that he’ll need no ordinary lawyer – cue guest star John M. Jackson, reprising his role as JAG’s A.J. Chegwidden. “There is a case in the finale that turns out to be very significant, that sort of dovetails in right at the end and propels us into the Season 11 opener,” Glasberg shares. “Hopefully we’ll deliver a finale that leaves people thinking over the summer, where a lot of questions are left open. We’re absolutely looking at decisions that have to be made and situations that leave us asking, ‘How is the team going to move forward? How will Gibbs move forward? And will things change within the team?’”