CBS has kept the crime-fighting action going this fall in the 2025 TV schedule with the eighth season of FBI, moving forward after the cancellations of FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. It was originally meant to be joined in primetime by CIA, another entry from Wolf Entertainment, but the new show’s premiere was pushed back to midseason. Now, production has stopped again with yet another showrunner change, which may bring FBI‘s Mike Weiss on board, and the news reminded me of what Weiss told CinemaBlend about the network TV schedule.
First things first!
More Behind-The-Scenes Changes For CIA
When CIA was first announced with its questionable original title, FBI: Most Wanted boss David Hudgins was set as the showrunner and even weighed in on the change from a backdoor pilot to a straight-to-series order. In July, former Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Leight was named as taking over the job for CIA. Just days ago, news broke that Michael Michele was leaving as a cast member and Eriq La Salle would no longer be an executive producer, although Chicago Med vet Nick Gehlfuss is still on board as co-lead opposite Lucifer alum Tom Ellis.
Now, the latest comes from Variety, which reports that FBI showrunner Mike Weiss is in talks to take over as showrunner to replace Warren Leight while also continuing in that role on FBI. According to the outlet, production on CIA has paused while a new showrunner is being finalized, but the season is still expected to make its midseason premiere in the 2026 TV schedule. The process is underway to cast a new actor to play the head of New York’s CIA station, previously played by Michele.
Clearly, Mike Weiss will be inheriting a lot if he does ultimately join CIA as well as maintaining his showrunner role on FBI!
What Mike Weiss Told Us About Making Network TV
The current eighth season of FBI is actually only Mike Weiss’ second, after he joined ahead of the Season 7 premiere that said goodbye to a key character. The Season 8 premiere, which is available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription and was penned by Weiss, delivered another bold twist with a big death. Ahead of the premiere, I asked the showrunner about his goals for his second season of FBI after what he was able to do in his first, and he shared:
We have the most amazing production team in New York City. It’s amazing what they can do. These episodes get filmed in nine days. They are absolute ninjas. We want to challenge them with even bigger, hopefully more exciting, action concepts and set pieces. That was definitely something that we focused on. What other parts of the city have we not shown in our seven seasons? What can we explore in season eight? We’re gonna hit the water in the season premiere, which is gonna be really fun, for example.
While streaming shows may have gotten TV viewers accustomed to seasons with fewer episodes that air less frequently in recent years, FBI still releases 22 episodes per season with relatively brief breaks. Considering how cinematic the stunts alone are, a nine-day turnaround is pretty wild. It sounds like a big challenge if Weiss were to be responsible for doing episodes so quickly for two shows, but he shared a lot of credit with the rest of the team. He went on:
Then we also have just the happiest, most, fantastic cast, and so we get requests from the cast. ‘Hey, can I do an episode where you pair me up with X other actor?’ We get those requests from actors, and we’re like, ‘Absolutely.’ Because we’ve got 22 stories. Ideas can come from anywhere, and so sometimes it’s just Jeremy [Sisto] asking to be in a story with Zeeko [Zaki] . And we’re like, ‘Great. We can absolutely do that.’ And so we’re excited about pairing people up in some fun and different ways in Season 8 as well.
The very next episode of FBI will actually include an atypical partnership, with Maggie joining forces with Eva, the newest member of the team, and a sneak peek gives a taste of what they’re like as a duo without OA and Scola. Missy Peregrym previewed that the episode will be “really fun.”
As for the cast of CIA, all signs point towards Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss remaining on board as the rogue CIA agent and by-the-book FBI agent, respectively. Gehlfuss will be joined by another former One Chicago actor as well, with former Chicago P.D. actress Natalee Linez on board.
For now, keep tuning in to CBS on Mondays for new episodes of FBI Season 8 at 9 p.m. ET, ahead of Watson Season 2. You can also stream the series on Paramount+ now.
