TVLINE | This week, we get to see present-day Gibbs go back to the old NCIS office and reunite with Tony DiNozzo. Was it just kind of kismet that Tony came back to “NCIS” this season as director at the same time? How did this reunion come together, logistically, with both shows?
I think that, yeah, they were sort of happening independently of each other. When I heard that Michael Weatherly was coming back, first of all, I thought, “That’s really cool,” because who else could really fill Leon Vance’s shoes? I mean, it was just another “NCIS” legend. And Eric Christian Olsen, a producer with me on “Origins,” was really an integral part of making it all happen. Because obviously, that’s a lot of moving pieces to different shows, to two different actors that are legends in their own right.

So we started working on it, and you mentioned Mark being back in the squad room. That was like another character for me. Once I knew Mark was doing this, I started thinking, “What characters do I want to see him with?” I thought, honestly, I want to see him in the orange walls, see him in the bullpen. That’s its own entity. That’s its own moment, and that’s why that lived totally separately from seeing him with DiNozzo.

TVLINE | What would you say the dynamic is like between Gibbs and DiNozzo now, 10 years later? It seems like they’re more on equal footing than they were back in the old days.
Yeah, I mean, things change over time, and I think me having written those characters for so long, there always was an underlying respect, even back in the days of head-slapping and DiNozzo doing all his shenanigans and antics. He was an incredible agent. DiNozzo always was so smart, and Gibbs knew that, and Gibbs would always want DiNozzo watching his back in the foxhole. But yeah, now things have changed, and I think DiNozzo rising through the ranks to now be at the pinnacle of NCIS, of course, [Gibbs is] proud. He has to be.

TVLINE | Yeah, Gibbs had that moment where he actually told Tony that he’s proud of him, and it kind of felt like a moment two decades in the making, right?
Yeah, it was. It really was. And it’s funny: You have little things you want to hit when you start thinking, “Okay, well, now we’ve got these guys. It happened. Got to write them something.” And one thing I knew very early on was that I wanted to have it build to a point where Gibbs can tell Tony he’s proud of him.