Shocking Death to ‘Raise the Stakes Fairly Dramatically’

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Sept. 18 epsiode of NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

The NCIS: Tony & Ziva family said goodbye to one of their own in the most recent episode.

During the Sept. 18 episode, titled “To Be Determined,” fans learned that Henry (James D’Arcy) can be trusted to help Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) and that it was Jonah (Julian Ovenden) who was working with Martine (Nassima Benchicou) all along.

After a harrowing prison break and subsequent escape, Tony, Ziva and Henry come face to face with Martine and Jonah for a tense confrontation.

Henry seems to have things handled after he sends Tony and Ziva off to rescue their daughter, Tali (Isla Gie), but, after an explosion takes him by surprise, Jonah uses the distraction to brutally stab and shoot Henry point-blank in the head.

Tony and Ziva aren’t able to intervene, and can only watch in horror as they’re driving away.

D’Arcy opened up to TVLine about the death of his character and how the loss will send shockwaves throughout the rest of the season.

The Broadchurch alum, 50, said series creator John McNamara is an “old friend” and confirmed that he knew his character’s outcome when he signed up for NCIS: Tony & Ziva.

“The fact that they’ve killed off a character that was pretty integral at this point in the show will raise the stakes fairly dramatically, because you don’t know who’s the bad guy,” D’Arcy teased.

“We don’t know who’s gonna die next,” he continued. “I think it leaves it pretty open to the idea that anyone could die at any time.”

McNamara spoke to TV Insider about the pivotal death, saying, “It was a hard choice. I love Henry and, more to the point, love James D’Arcy —we’ve been friends for 18 years — but a thriller like this needs real stakes and that sometimes means terrible things have to happen to good people.”

“As in life, how our characters deal with this kind of awful tragedy will define and change them,” he hinted

Given how close Tony and Henry were, McNamara said the show won’t shy away from him dealing with his friend’s death.

“A lot of that will play out in episode 6 and beyond,” he said. “Tony’s grief will be deep and not something we’ll lightly brush off.”

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New episodes of NCIS: Tony & Ziva stream Thursdays on Paramount+.