As a member of a multi-generational law enforcement family and a longtime member of the FBI across eight seasons now, Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) has been around the block in her time. Naturally, it also means she's made a few enemies in her dangerous line of work. Unfortunately for her, one of them is out of prison and has not only taken her sister Erin (Adrienne Rose Bengtsson), but her as well. Ahead of the premiere of Season 8, Episode 14, "Forgiven," Collider can share an exclusive sneak peek that shows the return of Your Friends & Neighbors star Matthew Rauch as serial slasher Ray DiStefano, who has the special agent locked away and is ready to take his revenge.
"Forgiven" initially starts with the team on an all-out search to find Erin, though that's bound to become even more frantic once Maggie goes missing. Our footage sees Ray enter a room where Maggie is chained to the floor, and she immediately sees red. Although the situation is dire for her, all she cares about is that her sister is freed, but that's not on Ray's agenda. He lords over Maggie, speaking with vitriol about what he sees as her "savior complex" rather than an actual desire to save people. While she asserts that's not true, he brings up her scar from their last encounter and confirms, despite her insistence, it's still there. In no position to bargain and desperate to save her sister, Maggie's willing to play his game, but to Ray, this is deathly serious and a long-overdue reckoning that, if the team doesn't arrive soon, will leave her with much worse than a scar.
Ray last appeared on FBI in Season 7, when Maggie worked with him in prison after having put him behind bars in the first place. A copycat killer on the loose required his "expertise" to track down, but to get him on their side, Maggie had to tell a little lie. If he cooperated, she promised furlough to visit his dying father, despite knowing he was already dead. When he found out, Ray vowed to find her as soon as he was released, and he's certainly made good on that threat. Speaking to TV Insider, Peregrym teased how their surprisingly effective dynamic makes Ray all the more dangerous and deepens the feelings of betrayal.
“I think the scary part about DiStefano is that in the last interaction that they had together in the prison, he really blames Maggie for not being able to see his father before he died. And that wasn’t really Maggie’s fault. She did tell him later. But they had a connection. They actually worked really well together. And DiStefano felt connected to her, not because Maggie was doing anything or showing anything, opening up to him in a personal way, but because they worked well in terms of figuring out who was the copycat. And it’s a really interesting scenario that happens and it’s heartbreaking what happens, but it was fun to explore maybe how desperate people get for interaction and human relationship when they’re in prison and when they’re isolated or — he already didn’t know how to have very healthy relationships with women, but it’s really devastating for Maggie that her natural ability has threatened her.”
The 'FBI' Universe has Just Expanded
The midseason return of FBI has been bigger than just what's going on in the New York office with Maggie, OA (Zeeko Zaki), and the rest of the team. Last month saw the premiere of the first episode of CIA, the new spin-off series starring Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfass as an unlikely team-up of a rule-bending CIA agent and a by-the-books FBI officer. Showrun by FBI's Mike Weiss, it's already been a streaming hit and seems poised to become the next long-running installment in the larger Dick Wolf television universe, and it's also going to have plenty of crossover with the flagship procedural. The premiere already featured Jeremy Sisto reprising his role as Jubal Valentine, and both Pergrym and Alana De La Garza were both lined up to appear in the inaugural run. In turn, Necar Zadegan is also set to cross over and work with the New York team at some point in what looks to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between the two series.
FBI Season 8, Episode 14 premieres Monday, March 16 on CBS. Check out our exclusive sneak peek in the player above.
CIA Season 2's Fate Officially Decided By CBS After Rocky Season 1 Production
The fate of CBS' new FBI spinoff series, CIA, has now been decided.
CBS confirmed that CIA has officially been renewed for season 2, following impressive viewership numbers from its series premiere. According to Paramount, the premiere episode saw 8.4 million multiplatform viewers via broadcast and streaming within the first seven days of its release.
Ratings for the first three episodes of the series showed a 39% improvement on Monday at 10 p.m. compared to the same timeslot in fall 2025.
Behind the scenes, though, CIA has had a rocky production. FBI: Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins was initially in charge of the series, but Warren Leight later replaced him. That wasn't the end of the turnover, though, as he eventually departed, along with executive producer Eriq La Salle. Mike Weiss, who was the showrunner on the original FBI series, was hired as the CIA showrunner.
All of this turmoil, plus Michael Michele's departure from the cast, caused production delays, and CBS decided to give CIA a mid-season 2026 premiere after previously announcing it would debut in fall 2025.
CIA stars Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss as CIA Agent Colin Glass and FBI Agent Bill Goodman, respectively, who are tasked with working together on a secretive joint CIA/FBI task force. The two agents couldn't be more different, with the latter a rule-follower and the former more mischievous in nature.
While on the job together, Glass and Goodman stay in the shadows as they solve domestic and international crimes away from the eyes of the public.
Before CIA, Ellis was best known for his role as Lucifer Morningstar on the Fox/Netflix drama Lucifer, while Gehlfuss has starred in The Newsroom, Shameless, and Chicago Med (another Dick Wolf-created series).
Their CIA co-stars include Necar Zadegan and Natalee Linez. Zadegan, who plays Nikki Reynard, will guest star in the March 30 episode of FBI season 8, in which the Deputy Chief of Station is called in to help following a double homicide. The episode will mark Maggie Bell's return to the team after suffering a major loss.
Wolf created the hugely popular Law & Order and One Chicago franchises on NBC, and then went on to create the FBI crime procedural franchise for CBS. The first FBI series debuted in 2018 with star Missy Peregrym and is currently airing its eighth season.
Two years later, the first spinoff, FBI: Most Wanted, launched and aired for six seasons. FBI: International followed in its footsteps and aired for four seasons.
CIA, which currently has a 63% critic score and 51% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, marks the third FBI spinoff, with Wolf, Weiss, Ken Girotti, Paul Cabbad, Nicole Perlman, David Chasteen, Anastasia Puglisi, and Peter Jankowski serving as executive producers.
CIA airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS.
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