Plenty of changes have come to FBI in its eighth season on CBS, and not just because the cancellation of two spinoffs means that it’s the last FBI show standing. The fall 2025 TV schedule kicked off with the shocking death of a member of the team, but not Isobel despite her life-threatening injuries from the Season 7 cliffhanger. The action is taking a week off with no new episode on November 24, but the teases of what’s to come with the new episode on December 1 indicate that another change could be on the way, and definitely involving Isobel this time.
The first episode after Hudson University got another shout out is called “Fadeaway,” and it sounds like a big one for Isobel’s professional life following her breakthrough with her stepdaughter in her personal life. (You can stream the last episode with a Paramount+ subscription now.) The logline for “Fadeaway” (per CBS) reveals:
When a large-scale explosion rocks a Brooklyn apartment complex, the team quickly locates the perpetrator and discovers he’s acting on the orders of a convicted felon currently serving time. Meanwhile, Isobel must name her successor before she moves into her new role.
While the mention of a convicted felon serving time fits with the promo that aired on CBS, the tease of Isobel naming her successor has more long-term implications for the show. Alana De La Garza’s character learned earlier in Season 8 that she was being seriously considered for a promotion to Assistant Director in Charge after spending the majority of the series as Special Agent in Charge.
At the time, she was also asked about naming her successor, and she immediately suggested that Jubal succeed her in the role at 26 Fed. He even threw his hat in the ring when he learned that she might be promoted up the chain of command, but her current boss showed some concern about Jubal’s history. So, with an extra week to wait, why not speculate?
Considering that Jubal has had moments of drinking on the job as recently as Season 5 after a complicated history before FBI kicked off, I can understand that Jubal might look like a bad candidate for promotion on paper for any who haven’t been in the trenches with him. So, whatever Isobel’s decision is about naming a successor, I’m not sure that the rest of the characters will all be ready for it.
If it’s Jubal, that’s a big change for everybody to get used to, including Jubal himself. If it’s not Jubal… well, I’d hope that the newcomer would get a warm welcome like Agent Eva Ramos did with Juliana Aidén Martinez joining the cast, but it would be a huge adjustment for a team that has been working with Jubal and/or Isobel on a daily basis for the better part of a decade.
The only change that I can imagine not causing a huge shift for characters who may or may not be ready would be if Isobel decided not to take her promotion. It’s not unprecedented for her to pass up on an opportunity for the sake of staying in the job she cares about; she decided not to retire when she had the chance, with Alana De La Garza saying that Isobel has no “regrets” about the choice. But this would be a big step, and certainly keep her as part of the Bureau.
