Development
The origins of the series go back to the Television Critics Association summer 2016 press tour, where Wolf revealed plans for a crime drama series, placed in New York and set in the world of the FBI. Wolf's original plan was to introduce it on the NBC network as a planned spin-off to his New York crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , where it was intended to introduce an FBI agent character, but NBC ultimately did not go through with it and the idea was later put on hold for different reasons. It's Wolf's first drama series to launch on a network other than NBC in 15 years. CBS officially picked up the series on September 20, 2017. The series is produced by CBS Television Studios and Universal Television. [31]
On January 25, 2019, during the TCA press tour, FBI was renewed for a second season, [32] which is set to premiere on September 24, 2019. [33] On May 7, 2019, following the renewal it was announced that Milena Govich joined as co-executive producer and director. [34]
On March 12, 2020, Universal Television suspended the production of the last three episodes of the second season following the COVID-19 pandemic. [35] However, on May 6, 2020, CBS announced that it was renewed for a third season which premiered on November 17, 2020. [3] [4] [5] On March 24, 2021, CBS announced that it had renewed the series for a fourth season, [6] which premiered on September 21, 2021. [7]
On May 9, 2022, CBS renewed the series for a fifth and sixth season. [36] The fifth season premiered on September 20, 2022. [37] The sixth season premiered on February 13, 2024. [38] On April 9, 2024, CBS renewed the series for seasons seven through nine. [39] The seventh season is scheduled to premiere on October 15, 2024. [40]
Casting
On March 1, 2018, Zeeko Zaki was cast as Omar Adom. [11] A week later, Jeremy Sisto was cast as Jubal, [12] including Ebonée Noel also cast as Kristin. [13] Before the end of the month, Missy Peregrym had joined the cast as Maggie. [10] The FBI Special Agent in Charge in the first episode ("Pilot") was Ellen Solberg, played by Connie Nielsen. On May 16, 2018, the day of scheduling the series for fall 2018, Nielsen was announced to have left the series for undisclosed reasons. [41] [42]
On July 13, 2018, Sela Ward was cast in the second episode as Dana Mosier who fulfills a similar role to Connie Nielsen who was in the first episode. [14] During the season finale, it was indicated that Ward would be departing the series after the first season. [15] On July 9, 2019, Alana de la Garza—who played Isobel Castille in a guest appearance in the first season—was promoted to the main cast for the second season; she also recurs on the spin-off series FBI: Most Wanted . [16]
On August 6, 2019, John Boyd was cast as Special Agent Stuart Scola, Kristin's new partner in the field, in a recurring role with the option to be promoted to regular at a later date. [17] Boyd was promoted to regular on October 7, 2019. [18] On August 28, 2020, Katherine Renee Turner was cast as a series regular for the third season. [20] On April 20, 2022, it was announced that Shantel VanSanten would return as Special Agent Nina Chase in a recurring role, while Peregrym went inactive for her maternity leave. [23] On August 19, 2024, Lisette Olivera joined the cast as a new series regular for the seventh while Kane is set to exit in the seventh season. [21] [19]
