"NCIS" fans finally got their first look at Michael Weatherly back in action as Tony DiNozzo — and the picture says almost as much as the plot. In the newly released promo image from Season 24, DiNozzo strides through the Washington Navy Yard wearing a "Visitor" badge, a small prop with a big meaning: the once-untouchable senior field agent is no longer one of the good guys with a key card.

The photo, first published by TV Insider and quickly picked up across the entertainment press on August 25 and 26, confirms Weatherly will appear in a season-long arc when "NCIS" returns for its 24th season on CBS on Tuesday, October 6, at 8 p.m. ET.

Back in Town, Different Man

According to details relayed by Collider, Tony is back in Washington, D.C., to oversee the expansion of his private security firm, Salus Mondiale, when a case pulls him back into his old world — one where Gibbs, Ducky and most of the team he left behind have moved on entirely.

Showrunner Steven D. Binder framed the reunion as a generational clash for the character, who left the show in Season 13 to raise his and Ziva David's daughter, Tali, and briefly resurfaced for Ducky's funeral in Season 21.

"He's still the charismatic, quick-witted DiNozzo fans know and love, but now he's also a parent navigating life with a daughter, which has given him a little more perspective, maturity, and emotional depth."

That's showrunner Steven D. Binder, who added that "watching the newer members of the team encounter the legend they've only heard stories about is exactly as fun as it sounds." That newer cast includes Torres, Knight, Parker and Hines, none of whom ever worked alongside DiNozzo — while McGee and Jimmy Palmer get an actual reunion. Weatherly played DiNozzo for 13 seasons after the show's 2003 debut before departing in 2016.

The timing follows the cancellation of the Paramount+ spinoff "NCIS: Tony & Ziva," which reunited Weatherly with Cote de Pablo for one season in Paris before it was pulled after failing to secure a second run. Weatherly has said the spinoff's events won't be retconned away when Tony steps back into the main show, according to TVLine, which first reported the return in July.

Fan reaction to the first-look photo has been enthusiastic across social media, with longtime viewers zeroing in on the Visitor badge as proof the show isn't just parachuting DiNozzo back into his old desk for nostalgia's sake. CBS has not detailed how many episodes Weatherly will appear in beyond confirming it as a "major arc," and questions about Ziva's whereabouts, and whether Tony might angle for the director's chair left vacant since Leon Vance's death, remain unanswered heading into the October 6 premiere.