CIA (TV series)

Main

• Tom Ellis as Colin Glass, a CIA case officer
• Nick Gehlfuss as agent William "Bill" Randall Goodman, an FBI special agent from the FBI New York field office
• Natalee Linez as Gina Gosian, a CIA analyst
• Necar Zadegan as Nikki Reynard, the Deputy Chief of the CIA's New York station

Crossover characters from FBI

• Jeremy Sisto as Jubal Valentine, Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) in the FBI New York field office
• James Chen as Ian Lim, an FBI Technical Analyst in the FBI New York field office
• Missy Peregrym as Maggie Bell, FBI Special Agent in the FBI New York field office
• Alana de la Garza as Isobel Castille, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in the FBI New York field office

Development

The series, a spin-off of the FBI television franchise and tentatively titled FBI: CIA, was in development at CBS in January 2025, originally intending to begin with a backdoor pilot airing as an FBI episode.^[3] After the proposed backdoor pilot had been repeatedly pushed toward the end of the season, FBI was nearing the end of production for the season, while casting for CIA was still underway, so the series was instead being considered for a straight-to-series pick-up without the backdoor pilot launch and with a new script.^[4] The series was created by Dick Wolf and David Hudgins, with Hudgins initially planning to be the showrunner.^[5][6] While a procedural in nature, Hudgins said that it would be different from FBI because it would focus on the relationship dynamic between the two leads from different organizations and approaches.^[7]

CBS made the straight-to-series order in April with Wolf and Hudgins executive producing along with former CIA officer David Chasteen, Nicole Perlman, and Peter Jankowski. Production companies for the series are Wolf Entertainment, CBS Studios, and Universal Television.^[5] Eriq La Salle joined the series in July to direct the pilot and executive produce.^[6] By July, Warren Leight took over as showrunner for Hudgins, and the series was delayed to adjust.^[8] While in production, La Salle left the series,^[9] followed by Leight, with both stepping down as executive producers, with Mike Weiss, FBI showrunner, expected to take over on CIA as well.^[10] The premiere ended up being directed by Ken Girotti.^[11] In March 2026, CBS renewed the series for a second season.^[12]

Casting

Upon the series order announcement in April 2025, Tom Ellis was cast to star as the CIA case officer.^[5] Ellis said he had been doing chemistry reads as part of casting for a partner on the show, and confirmed his character would be American.^[13] However, Ellis later met with executive producer Dick Wolf, who had apparently changed Ellis's character at the last minute to be British - he would have a dual British-American citizenship, but speak with a received pronunciation accent.^[14] The second lead opposite Ellis was not cast until September 2025 when Nick Gehlfuss was cast as the FBI special agent working with Ellis' CIA officer. Michael Michele was also cast as chief of the CIA's New York station,^[15] and Natalee Linez joined the cast as a CIA analyst.^[16] After production began, Michele left the series in November,^[10] requiring her role to be recast and filled by Necar Zadegan.^[17] Jeremy Sisto also features in the series, crossing over from the larger FBI franchise.^[11]

Filming

The series began filming in September 2025 in New York City.^[18][9] After the departures of Michele and La Salle, production was planned to continue,^[9] but it was ultimately put on hold when Leight left as well.^[10]