The hiatus since the Season 6 finale of FBI with some seriously unhinged moments is nearly over, as CBS' hit drama is set to return in the 2024 TV schedule on October 15. Season 7 will be a new era in more ways than one, with new showrunner Mike Weiss stepping into the role formerly held by Rick Eid and Katherine Renee Kane on the way out as Agent Tiffany Wallace. Ahead of the premiere, Weiss and star John Boyd spoke with CinemaBlend about the spy thriller elements on the way and the Tiff/Scola goodbye.
The Season 7 premiere is called "Abandoned," and will see the team brought onto the case of a Brooklyn plumber whose murder doesn't seem to fit his lifestyle. The drama will only escalate from there, all with Tiff not entirely over the events from the end of Season 6. (You can revisit the end of Season 6 with a Paramount+ subscription.) It sounds like a big episode as the first in Mike Weiss' era as FBI showrunner, and he even wrote the script. When I asked the new boss about writing the episode, he shared:
While Mike Weiss was new to FBI with Season 7, that's certainly not the case for director Alex Chapple, who has not only helmed more than twenty episodes of this show, but also episodes of shows like FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med elsewhere in the shared Dick Wolf TV universe. It's also not every week that FBI delivers an episode that can qualify as a spy thriller, and Mike Weiss went on to share that as a goal for the premiere. He said:
There's no shortage of spy movies in the history of film, so were there any in particular that inspired Mike Weiss as he was writing "Abandoned" as FBI's Season 7 premiere? I asked the showrunner that very question, and he dropped some names:
The episode won't just be the agents focusing on the case from the opening to the closing credits, however, as "Abandoned" also says goodbye to Katherine Renee Kane as Tiff. Her exit wasn't specifically foreshadowed at the end of Season 6 in the spring, but she certainly went through the wringer.
Tiff and Scola have been partners for the last several seasons, opposite the partnership of Maggie and OA. With Season 7, Scola is facing the loss of his partner on top of everything he went through last season, up to and including the tension with Nina. Actor John Boyd previewed how his character is doing when hit drama returns:
Well, there are worse ways to say goodbye in the FBI world than by somebody deciding they don't want to keep doing the job (case in point: Jess LaCroix on FBI: Most Wanted), but that doesn't mean Scola has to like it when it means losing his partner. Boyd went on:
FBI isn't going to waste any time in introducing a new partner for Scola, as the description for Episode 2 of Season 7 reveals that he'll work on welcoming the newcomer. Quickly moving on aside, I think fans can be grateful that Tiff will be back for at least the Season 7 premiere. When I asked the showrunner if there was ever any risk that Katherine Renee Kane wouldn't be available to appear in the premiere, Mike Weiss explained:
The wait to see what FBI has in store for the "proper goodbye" is nearly over, as the Season 7 premiere will air on Tuesday, October 15 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. As always, FBI will be followed by FBI: International at 9 p.m. ET, which is welcoming a new leading man with Chicago P.D. alum Jesse Lee Soffer. FBI: Most Wanted will close out the night at 10 p.m. ET. If you want to revisit earlier episodes of all three series, you can find them streaming on Paramount+.