Here’s Rina’s death on FBI explained. Producer Dick Wolf started his career working on shows like Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice, but Law & Order is easily his most famous creation. This iconic procedural launched in 1990 with the show typically following a two-part storyline, with one focused on New York detectives investigating a crime while the second part followed the District Attorney’s office trying to secure a prosecution. Law & Order is arguably the most famous procedural show of all time and has launched many spinoffs, including Special Victim’s Unit.
Wolf himself has a knack for creating shows that bear spin-off fruit, including his sprawling Chicago franchise. Wolf’s Midas touch worked once again with FBI, with the CBS show launching in 2018 and following a team of agents in New York. The original series has run for four seasons and counting and has received two offshoots with FBI: Most Wanted – which Dylan McDermott joined in season 3 – and FBI: International, which debuted in 2021.
Joining the FBI cast during series 3 was Kathleen Munroe (The Void) as Special Agent Rina Trenholm, who later became Assistant Director in Charge of the New York FBI office at the end of the season; she also entered into a romance with Jeremy Sisto’s Jubal. It appeared Munroe was primed to become a permanent member of FBI’s main cast, but that changed with season 4 episode “Unfinished Business.” Season 4 saw the office trying to take down a drug lord named Vargas (David Zayas, Dexter), who after his wife and child are murdered, orchestrates the shooting of Rina. Two episodes later it’s revealed Rina’s parents had taken her off life support following a brain hemorrhage that left her in a coma.
Jubal had no idea Munroe’s – who also appeared in Patriot – Rina was going to be taken off life support and is devastated when he comes to visit and learns this. Adding to his grief is Rina’s mother revealing she had moved to the New York office to continue her relationship with Jubal. While actor exits from procedurals can sometimes feel unceremonious, FBI gave the passing of Munroe’s Rina passing real emotional weight.
Of course, Rina isn’t the first character to exit the hit series. Connie Nielsen’s Ellen Solberg only stayed for FBI’s “Pilot” episode while Julian McMahon and Kellan Lutz both left FBI: Most Wanted during the spin-off’s third season. Of course, the long-term effects Rina’s passing will have on Jubal also remains to be seen.
