All the Changes for CBS’ ‘FBI’ Spin-Off ‘CIA’
The FBI spin-off, from the mind of Dick Wolf, has seen a number of changes in recent months. In the summer, original showrunner, David Hudgins left, and was replaced with Wolf Entertainment alum and former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit showrunner, Warren Leight. Things seemed to settle for a moment, until Leight’s departure from the series was announced earlier this month. Executive Producer Eriq La Salle also departed the series. The cancellations of both FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International originally left CIA with a wide berth to slate itself comfortably alongside the mothership series. Now, there have been understandable production delays — with the change in both the execs and the cast — meaning the show won’t premiere until midseason.
The series, however, aims to have its own identity, zeroing in on Ellis’ character’s more cavalier nature. Ellis explained in an interview earlier this year with Collider, “They’ve [Wolf Entertainment] been incredibly enthusiastic and supportive about what we’re doing. I think there is a shared feeling that we would like to really make our mark as a show.” Ellis explained:
“The biggest thing I’ll say about it so far is that initially my character was going to be American, obviously, because he’s a CIA agent. But I met Dick Wolf for about five minutes, in the flesh, and during that conversation, Dick was like, ‘Hey, Tom, we’ve got to make your character British.’ I was like, ‘Really? Do they have British people in the CIA?’ And he said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ So, my character is now British. He’s a dual citizen, but I speak with a British dialect in it. As Dick said, it’s the perfect cover.”
CIA premieres February 23 on CBS. Stay with Collider for the latest updates.
