It’s certainly possible that the creative team would have found a way to work de Pablo into Episode 400, or even whatever the original finale plans were.
(For more than just the Season 16 finale tease, I mean.)
Here’s hoping we’ll see some of that, along with whatever other highlights Frank Cardea and Steve D. Binder want to throw into the mix, in the presumably imminent Season 18.
Losing that celebratory episode for Season 17 was a pretty rotten deal by any stretch, considering this was the season that brought Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David back into the team members’ lives.