TV Shows | Jul 19, 2014 09:45 PM EDT

'NCIS' Season 12 Spoilers: Tony DiNozzo Finds New Girlfriend After Ziva David, 'It's Time'

By Anna Halkidis

Tony DiNozzo may have had a hard time during season 11, but according to the NCIS showrunner, the upcoming one will be good to him.

NCIS Cast Celebrates Michael Weatherly & Rocky Carroll's Birthdays

"It's time for Tony to continue to grow a little bit," Gary Glasberg told TVLine.com in a new interview. "He went through a lot last year emotionally and tried to deal with Ziva's departure as he could."

Ziva David, played by Cote de Pablo, emotionally left the show back in October and before she parted ways with Tony, he attempted to get her to stay.

Ziva & Bishop To Meet? Emily Wickersham Dishes On The Idea

"Listen, you can bag groceries for all I care, just come home. I just want you to come home with me," a teary-eyed Tony told her. "I know it's hard and I know you want to change. I can change with you. I'm fighting for you Ziva."

However, Tony's sadness will soon be gone since Glasberg said that it's about time for the NCIS favorite to move on to a new woman. And, Tony will meet this new love interest through a case. "We'll be mature about it and handle it properly, and Michael's excited about it," Glasberg added.

Meet The NCIS: New Orleans Cast

Yet, according to many fans tweets, they don't seem ready to let the relationship between Ziva and Tony go.

Watching reruns of ncis makes me sad bc of how tony and Ziva just belonged together and now that Ziva is gone I feel lied to

— Katey Serago (@KitKatKatey18) July 19, 2014

They can lie all they want. Tony & Ziva are meant 2 spend their lives together and no amount of BS writing will convince me otherwise. — Julia Diane Aguilar (@Aksannyi) July 18, 2014