Things didn't get off on the best foot for Colin Glass (Tom Ellis) and Bill Goodman (Nick Gehlfass) in the series premiere of CIA, but this law enforcement odd couple is now in it for the long haul. After a complicated production, the latest FBI spin-off kicked off this week with a high-stakes operation that forced the loose cannon case officer and "boy scout" special agent to work together to investigate after a top-secret U.S. weapon was stolen in broad daylight. One mission in, Bill is still getting the hang of what it means to work jointly with the CIA on a more secretive operation than he's used to, though he's about to get another taste of the kind of covert spy thriller work that he'll be doing for the foreseeable future. Collider can share an exclusive sneak peek from Episode 2 that sees the team on the trail of a smuggler.
In the footage, the still sour relationship between Bill and Colin is on full display as Bill tries to reach the team's office by entering a specific combination of buttons on the elevator. As it turns out, they change the code every week, and it conveniently "slipped" Colin's mind to tell Bill. Once they arrive for their briefing, however, it's straight to business. Titled "Fatal Defect," Episode 2 sends Colin and Bill upstate to track down a known smuggler after they cross the New York border with unknown cargo. They'd previously carried weapons for everyone from Iran to ISIS, which makes Bill wonder whose bright idea it was to let him through despite his dangerous record. In another moment showing that he doesn't fully understand yet how the CIA operates, the New York station's Deputy Chief Nikki Reynard (Necar Zadegan) reveals she cleared him in hopes of finding out who he's doing the smuggling for. As Colin quips, "You don't arrest the postman if you want to catch the Unabomber."
Though they have a location for where the smuggler is staying, it's not going to be as simple as just tracking him down. This mission will also require the help of a foreign intelligence officer looking to defect for one reason or another. As our previous exclusive images showed, though, Colin and Bill will be flirting with danger as they close in on their target. It'll take a mix of Colin's rule-bending approach and Bill's by-the-books mentality to ensure everything goes off as planned without anyone getting hurt.
'CIA' Adds a New Twist to the 'FBI' Formula
So far, CIA is off to a solid start as the latest installment in the Dick Wolf extended universe of crime procedurals, earning a 63% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with plenty of praise for the two leads of Lucifer and Chicago Med fame. With FBI showrunner Mike Weiss at the helm, it has everything it needs to bring similar procedural thrills through a more covert lens. However, there's another interesting wrinkle revealed in the premiere that will make the unfolding narrative all the more compelling. Bill's purpose in working jointly with the CIA is not just to help counter threats to U.S. soil, but also to root out a mole believed to be operating in the agency's New York office. It makes it all the more difficult to build up trust with Colin when he can't afford to trust anybody, save for perhaps his fellow FBI officers like Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) and Isobel Castille (Alana de la Garza), who will be crossing over throughout the season.
CIA Episode 2 airs on Monday, March 2. 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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