Michael Weatherly 'Was on a Diet' to Make Tony 'More Foxy' in New “NCIS” Spinoff (Exclusive)

Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo Jr. is backmost — and amended than ever.

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE astatine a instrumentality screening arena for nan caller NCIS spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, connected Wednesday, Sept. 3, Michael Weatherly, who has played Tony since NCIS debuted successful 2003, shares that he went "on a diet" to hole for nan caller series.

"I wanted DiNozzo to beryllium benignant of a small spot much foxy," he adds of his typical supplier character.

Weatherly, 57, besides shares his hack to fitting workout into his regular routine, saying, "I learned that if you tin walk, walk. If it's for illustration you sewage an hr aliases thing to get for illustration a mile away, locomotion it. You're gonna beryllium fine."

Weatherly admits that this tin beryllium tricky erstwhile dealing pinch young ones.

"You tin do that erstwhile I was surviving alone," he says. "It's overmuch harder erstwhile you person to navigate, like, where's your book bag? Did you provender nan canine yet?"

Weatherly is dad to 3 children: his big boy August, whom he welcomed pinch ex-wife Amelia Heinle successful 1997; and his 2 youngest, girl Olivia, calved successful 2012, and boy Liam, calved successful 2013, pinch wife Bojana Janković.

He antecedently told PEOPLE that he was excited to walk much clip pinch his kids pursuing his NCIS exit successful 2016.

Nearly a decade later, Weatherly calls his clip pinch his kids "the champion point successful my life" and that they "are terrific" and he's "very proud of them."

Weatherly besides teases for what "surprises" fans tin expect from nan caller NCIS spinoff.

Instead of relying connected immense stunt castings to drum up attention, he hints that location are galore "Easter eggs" for diehard fans to bask connected NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which sees him reuniting pinch Cote de Pablo's Ziva David.

"The Easter eggs wrong nan show are for nan fans who salary peculiar attraction to definite conversations that person happened successful nan past aliases behaviors aliases moreover references to scenes wherever we do definite scenes for illustration we did different scenes," he shares.

"So there's worldly for illustration that," he continues of really nan show utilizes nostalgia. "And past names are dropped and worldly for illustration that."

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New episodes of NCIS: Tony & Ziva watercourse connected Paramount+ connected Thursdays.