NCIS ended a six-year creative frustration by finally bringing back Ziva David in the Season 16 finale, "Daughters." After the character's departure in 2013, the show repeatedly mentioned and alluded to Ziva without actually featuring her, leaving fans frustrated with a narrative approach that discussed her constantly but refused to show her onscreen. The season finale resolved this by revealing in its closing moments that Ziva had faked her death and was alive, setting up her return to the series.

Ziva departed as a series regular in Season 11 but was presumed dead in Season 13 after an attack on her farmhouse. Her complicated relationship with Tony DiNozzo and their daughter Tali had remained central to NCIS mythology despite her absence. Her return finally gave the character narrative agency after years of being defined solely by what happened to her, allowing both her and Tony's unresolved storylines to be properly addressed rather than existing only in implication and memory.