17-03-2025
FBI: CIA No Longer Getting a Backdoor Pilot, Eyes Straight-to-Series Order
We're no longer getting a sneak peek at the new FBI spinoff.
FBI: CIA, which was first announced in January, will not air a backdoor pilot this spring on the original FBI, as was originally planned, according to our sister site Deadline. Instead, the spinoff is now nearing a straight-to-series order for the 2025-26 TV season.
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Casting seems to be the primary hold-up, as casting negotiations for the male lead are still underway. FBI: CIA centers on a dedicated, strait-laced FBI agent and a street-smart CIA agent who join forces as part of a new, clandestine task force charged with solving and preventing domestic terrorism in and around New York City. The original plan was to introduce three series regulars in the backdoor pilot, but actors in the running for the third role have since been released. (The title FBI: CIA is also likely to change after being 'met with mixed reaction,' per Deadline.)
Zeeko Zaki, who plays Special Agent 'OA' Zidan on the original FBI, indicated a change in plan when TVLine spoke with him earlier this month, saying, 'I'm not sure if that [backdoor pilot] is going to happen in our season now… I'm not exactly sure the status of the pilot anymore.'
Zaki, however, had good things to say about the pilot script, having seen some sides from an actor pal. 'It's really, really strongly written,' he shared, 'and with the banter between the [lead FBI and CIA] agents, it's going to be a different dynamic. It's going to be really cool.'
If it does earn a series order, FBI: CIA would join the original FBI on the CBS lineup, with FBI earning a three-season renewal last year. But CBS already dropped the axe on the franchise's other two current spinoffs, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International, earlier this month, with both set to wrap up at the end of their current seasons.
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