The bizarre revolving door on FBI is continuing as season 8 will have one agent making a return, but it sounds like it won’t be for long with a replacement already coming in!
FBI fans had been blessed with a pretty stable cast throughout the show’s run. While there were a few departures after the show’s first season, for several years, the show was steady with its cast. That changed when Katherine Renee Kane, who played Agent Tiffany Wallace, left the show in the season 7 premiere.
Now, however, the series is prepping for another strange cast shift. TVLine has confirmed that Emily Alabi, who joined mid-way through season 7 as agent Dani Rhodes, will be back for FBI season 8. However, it seems it won’t be as a full-time agent but rather to “wrap up her storyline.”
Instead, season 8 will see former Law & Order: SVU actress Juliana Aidén Martinez joining in an as-yet-unnamed role. The actress played Detective Kate Silva on SVU but was dropped alongside Octavio Spencer earlier in 2025.
It’s yet another strange turn on the surprisingly complex road to replacing Wallace on FBI!
What is happening with FBI’s casting?
When Wallace departed, it left Stuart Scola (John Boyd) without a partner for a bit. The plan was for Lisette Olivera to fill the gap as Sydney Ortiz, a young agent joining the team. She seemed to be set to be a regular, but in a shocking turn, Olivera departed the show before Sydney’s debut episode even aired.
The reasoning appeared to be that Olivera didn’t fit in with the rest of the cast, coming off too young to be believable as a top FBI agent. It doesn’t sound like there were bad feelings between the actress and the show, the role simply didn’t work out for her.
Ortiz was written out by getting a new assignment in Washington, D.C. Rhodes was introduced in a great episode where she helped save an endangered Maggie and proved her agent chops. She seemed set for a long run as well, only now it sounds like she’s only going to be around for a few episodes before she’s gone.
Why FBI is having such trouble seems off but it sounds like it’s been harder than expected filling the void left behind by Tiffany. The series seems to be going for a type of younger female agent, and it appears neither Olivera nor Alabi was seen as proper for the role. Alabi did show more grit than Olivera did, yet wasn’t given as much time to show it off.
Martinez does have experience in a Dick Wolf ensemble, thanks to SVU, and can be more believable as an agent. It may be that she was a former cop before joining the FBI and might be more capable of fitting in with Scola.
It still seems confusing to viewers that FBI is having so much trouble getting a new agent to stay on board. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm as it’s hard to see an FBI unit able to handle a revolving door of new hires coming on.
FBI Season 8 premieres Monday, Oct. 13 at 9/8c on CBS.
