Michael Weatherly leaving 'NCIS', Leaving No.1 Show

Monty Brinton/CBS

Michael Weatherly Leaving ‘NCIS’ - Michael Weatherly, who plays the roguish agent Tony DiNozzo on “NCIS,” confirmed Tuesday night that he was leaving CBS’s popular crime procedural after 13 seasons. He will leave the show at the end of the current season, which concludes in April.

“DiNozzo is a wonderful, quixotic character & I couldn’t have had more fun playing him over the past 13 seasons,” he wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

CBS confirmed Mr. Weatherly’s departure in a statement, saying the actor was “a valued part of the CBS family,” and that “the immense charm and talent he brings to the screen as ‘Very’ Special Agent Tony DiNozzo has helped make NCIS what it is today — the No. 1 drama in the world.”

The network will continue “to develop projects with him as part of our ongoing development deal,” the statement read.

“NCIS” tracks a lead agent, played by Mark Harmon, and his idiosyncratic subordinates as they investigate crimes involving Navy personnel. Since debuting in 2003 as a spinoff of “JAG,” the show has become one of the most popular on television and has itself spun off “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “NCIS: New Orleans.”

Mr. Weatherly has been with the show from the beginning and DiNozzo, a source of comic relief amid the serious business of crime fighting, has been a fan favorite. “NCIS” has survived the departure of popular actors before, notably Cote de Pablo, who played the agent (and onetime DiNozzo love interest) Ziva David, who left in 2013.

On Tuesday Mr. Weatherly posted a photo of himself on Twitter with Pauley Perrette, another core member of the cast, thanking CBS and its chief executive, Les Moonves, for “the opportunity of a lifetime.”