Although the road was bumpy with multiple showrunner changes, a major casting departure, and more, CBS is finally about to open the next branch of its FBI franchise. CIA premieres next Monday, February 23, introducing Tom Ellis to audiences as loose cannon CIA case officer Colin Glass and Nick Gehlfuss as his veteran partner and FBI special agent Bill Goodman, who prefers following the rules to the letter. They'll use their respective skills as part of a domestic terrorism task force aimed at stopping threats to the U.S. before they can cause mass harm. The story officially begins with a case involving a top-secret U.S. weapon that's fallen into the long hands, but Collider can offer an exclusive preview of what's to come after the premiere.
We can share a set of three new images from Episode 2, titled "Fatal Defect," that show Colin, Bill, and their other colleagues at work. One particular still centers on CIA's crime-solving odd couple as they haul in one of their targets in the middle of the woods. It's not as simple as slapping on the handcuffs and calling it a day, though. Bill is positioned behind a car with his gun drawn in another image, signaling that their mission will take a dangerous turn before they can head back to the office. It's the kind of job that may require both of their mindsets — Colin's more unconventional, rule-bending ways and Bill's more principled methods — to prevail. Waiting back at the office, meanwhile, is Deputy Chief of Station Nikki Reynard, played by Mayor of Kingstown regular Necar Zadegan, who can be seen glancing around with intent while on her phone.
Along with the images, Collider also has the official logline for the upcoming episode that teases the New York CIA office will require a bit of unexpected international assistance to capture their target. It reads, "When a known smuggler is flagged at the New York border with unknown cargo, Colin and Bill head upstate to track. To find this smuggler, they realize they must enlist the help of a foreign intelligence officer looking to defect." Written by Alex Berger and directed by Jon Cassar, it's a small taste of the kind of covert spy thriller operations viewers can expect, and a line of work that Bill still has to learn how to navigate in order to protect America from the shadows.
'CIA' Is Already Preparing Crossovers With the 'FBI' Team
CIA hasn't even premiered, yet the series has wasted no time setting up some collaborations with the FBI's New York City field office and a few faces fans of the Dick Wolf crime procedural universe will be very familiar with. The pilot episode will welcome Jeremy Sisto to the show, reprising his role as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine for an undisclosed story arc. Alana De La Garza and Missy Peregrym are both in line to appear in their FBI parts later on in the season, as well. The crossover goes both ways, too, as Zadegan will also visit her counterparts in the mothership series. In a recent interview, FBI and CIA showrunner and executive producer Mike Weiss teased how the goal is to make the franchise's world feel even wider and let members of both teams show off their abilities in far different jobs and circumstances than seen in their respective shows:
"Fans get to see their favorite characters flex their muscles in cases and in situations that can differ from their work in their ordinary worlds. And we get to expand the universe of BOTH shows – the CIA and FBI might be racing to keep people safe from various threats, but in crossing characters over, we get to show that both agencies are hard at work in the same city, on the same timeline, in the same shared reality. That’s fun! Isn’t it?"
CIA premieres on February 23, with Episode 2 set to follow on Monday, March 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. All episodes will stream on-demand on Paramount+ the day after they air. Check out our exclusive images in the gallery 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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