On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 82% based on 11 critic reviews, while Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating 'generally favorable' reception.

Despite its favorable critical reception, Paramount+ canceled the series after just one season on December 19, 2025.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva is the seventh series set within the 'NCIS-verse' and the first developed exclusively for a streaming platform.

The series marks the first time Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo appear together in 12 years, since the NCIS season 11 episode 'Past, Present, and Future'.

Weatherly left the original NCIS cast in 2016 but returned in 2024 for a special tribute episode honoring David McCallum, who played Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard for 20 seasons; de Pablo had been a series regular from seasons 3 to 11 and later made guest appearances in seasons 16 and 17.

Both Weatherly and de Pablo also served as executive producers on the series, which they had reportedly been developing for several years; the showrunner described the project as 'an unconventional love story.'

In July 2025, Cote de Pablo revealed she declined to have an intimacy coordinator on set with Weatherly, even though it was offered, saying she trusted him as a friend and didn't want to 'be micromanaged'.

In mid-May 2024, de Pablo and Weatherly launched Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, the first official podcast of the NCIS universe, on Spotify, revisiting the show's most memorable episodes with behind-the-scenes commentary.