This article contains spoilers from the CIA season 1 finale, "Broken Glass."
After the shocking CIA season 1 finale, star Tom Ellis is opening up about how the big Toni Napier reveal will impact Colin and the show next season.
The finale included the surprising revelation that Toni is still alive, and in an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns, Ellis revealed that when he first read the scene in which his character, Colin Glass, talks to Toni through the bug planted in his apartment, he couldn't believe that something like this had been written into the script.
"We're in a broadcast TV procedural show here, and we've got a scene like this," the actor said. Ellis acknowledged that Colin will never be seen going to therapy, so that scene was a way for the audience to discover Colin's "vulnerabilities and his weak spots and what makes him tick."
"First of all, when I read that scene the first time, I was like, 'Wow, this is a great scene. We're in a broadcast TV procedural show here, and we've got a scene like this.' And I loved the way they were going with this show, and the opportunity, when would you ever really — Colin can't go to therapy. You're never going to see him in a scene where he talks to a therapist and just opens his heart up. It just doesn't happen. Equally with Bill, even though he trusts him and love him, he's not an open soul in that sense. That's why he is a great spy. He's a closed book. He's a closed shop. So, it was an opportunity for our audience for the first time to see and hear Colin's vulnerabilities and his weak spots and what makes him tick. There are all these different thoughts and feelings in his head about what is going on."
After all, Toni was the one person he ever loved, and it "broke him" when he thought she had died in an explosion in the Philippines. He's been spending all his time trying to avenge her death, only to find out that the whole situation was a "fairytale" and "not real."
At this point in the finale, Colin's whole life is metaphorically spinning off its axis, and he ends up questioning everything. "What does that mean? And did she know about the bomb, and was I meant to be there?" explained Ellis, whose past credits include Lucifer and Tell Me Lies.
All this time, Colin had been confident in his abilities as a spy, and now "he's had the wool pulled over his eyes and had zero suspicion about any of this stuff."
"She's the one person he's ever really loved in his life that it broke him when she died, and he's made it his mission to avenge her death. It's all a fairytale. It's not real. 'What does that mean? And did she know about the bomb, and was I meant to be there?' He's got so many questions, and it was a real opportunity dramatically to pose some of those questions. And I think, yes, he convinced himself, because he feels so ashamed that he's not been this brilliant spy, and he's had the wool pulled over his eyes, and had zero suspicion about any of this stuff, and all of a sudden it's happened and he's like, 'No, I am going to kill this person.'"
That's why he feels such internal strife and conflicting feelings when he finally does come face to face with Toni and has a gun pointed directly at her, as she's trying to go after corrupt security firm CEO Joanne Kerkering.
At first, Colin thinks he's actually going to go through with it and kill Toni, according to Ellis, but as he's "looking deep into her eyes, there is an element of something there where the love was real, and where there's love, there's hope." Ultimately, that's what stopped Colin from going through with what would have been a fatal decision.
Ellis wants to make it clear, though, that just because he didn't kill Toni, it doesn't mean he forgives her, "but it is the thing that stopped him from pulling the trigger, for sure."
"Then, of course, when he's face to face with her, and he's got the gun at her face, and he's looking deep into her eyes, there is an element of something there where the love was real, and where there's love, there's hope. I think that in that moment, that is what stopped Colin from shooting her. But it doesn't mean he's forgiven her, doesn't mean any of those things, but it is the thing that stopped him pulling the trigger for sure."
Toni being alive will have major ramifications for CIA season 2, which will air in its new 9 p.m. EDT timeslot beginning in fall 2026; a specific premiere date has not yet been announced.
The first season showed a professional bond and a trust being formed between Colin and Bill Randall Goodman, two partners who have worked well together, despite their disparate personalities. Toni will likely play a larger role in CIA going forward, and only time will tell how much her appearances will impact Colin on both a professional and a personal level.
CIA is a spinoff of the Dick Wolf-created series FBI, which debuted in 2018 and spawned the now-canceled FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. Ellis stars alongside Nick Gehlfuss, Natalee Linez and Necar Zadegan. Angela Sarafyan, who has appeared in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Superman and Westworld, plays Toni.
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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