The news broke today that Cote de Pablo, who plays the fierce Ziva David on NCIS, will be exiting the number one show on television this fall.

According to TVLine, de Pablo was the only regular who hadn’t signed a contract after the season 10 finale. de Pablo had this to say about her departure, “I’ve had eight great years with NCIS and Ziva David. I have huge respect and affection for Mark, Gary, Michael, David, Rocky, Pauley, Brian, Sean, all of the team and CBS. I look forward to finishing Ziva’s story.”

NCIS begins filming next week and the first episode will be a wrap up of Ziva’s story line. For fans of the show, this is a painful departure and one can only wonder how Ziva’s story will end.

This season especially brought hope to Tiva shippers everywhere, as Tony and Ziva became closer than ever before. Clearly this is a story line that will not see a resolution so many fans have been looking forward to.

The season finale saw the team disbanding in order to protect Gibbs, who was sent out on a secret mission. It is unclear what happened to the other team members Tony, Ziva and McGee.

NCIS returns for its 11th season on September 24.