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She’s been a fan favorite from Episode 1, but could it be time for Maggie Bell to leave FBI? Fans are convinced that her new storyline lead her to retire from the field and hang up her badge for good.
FBI is CBS’ crime drama series following the personal and professional lives of special agents at the New York City field office criminal division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The series — which was created by the Dick Wolf, the same mind behind NBC’s Law & Order and One Chicago franchises — is led by FBI Special Agent Maggie Bell (played by Missy Peregrym) and her partner, Omar Adom “OA” Zidan.
Maggie and OA have been the faces of FBI since the series — which is part of CBS’ FBI franchise also including FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International — since Season 1 aired in 2018. But after a half a decade, could fans see Magie hang up her badge? Read on for why fans think Maggie Bell is leaving FBI and what could happen to Missy Peregrym’s character.
What happened to Maggie on FBI?
What happened to Maggie on FBI? Missy Peregrym, who plays Maggie, sparked rumors she was leaving FBI after Season 6, Episode 6, “Unforeseen,” which saw the death of Maggie’s close friend and co-worker, Special Agent Jessica Blake, who died in surgery after suffering an aneurysm on a case that involved an eco-terrorist killing people with poisonous gas.
Before Jessica’s death, she chose Maggie as her emergency contact and the guardian for her daughter, Ella, should she not make it out of surgery. “I was thinking about IVF. I’m not sure that I’m going to do it. I want to. A big part of me wants to, but it’s a lot. I mean, just even getting pregnant, let alone the motherhood part,” Maggie told Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille in the episode. The storyline led fans to wonder if FBI was setting up Maggie to leave the series and retire from field work for good to focus on being a mother.
Peregrym sparked rumors that Maggie was leaving again in Season 6, Episode 10, “Family Affair,” in which Maggie is shot and almost killed on a case investigating a cult leader with OA. “It was a close call,” OA said after Maggie survived. “Too close,” Maggie said. “An inch down or to the left and I would’ve… It would have been over. Maggie continued, “I worry about Ella. I mean, how can I not? If something were to happen to me, that poor girl would have to start over? Again? She needs me.”
Later in the episode, OA tells Isobel about how the near-fatal shooting affected Maggie. “I think today really shook [Maggie],” he said. “Is there any way that you could, I don’t know, demand that she take some time off…? I just know she’s never going to ask for it.” “Yeah, I can,” Isobel responds. “Is that what you feel needs to happen…?” OA replies, “Yeah. I do. She almost made that little girl an orphan all over agin. So, yes.”
Is Maggie leaving FBI?
So is Maggie leaving FBI? The answer is no — at least, for now. In an interview with CinemaBlend in April 2024, Peregrym seemed to confirm that Maggie will remain on FBI while balancing being a new mother and a special agent. “I think it doesn’t make sense and it would never be done this way for Maggie, if she had it her way. “Obviously, just all of the sudden, be a caretaker,” Peregrym said of Maggie’s journey to motherhood. “And it’s not just like having a baby. Ella is a person, like a full grown person who has feelings and emotions and knows loss now and has her own journey of grief that Maggie has to be there to facilitate, and when you’re not there because you are working, that’s a really tough thing to do.”
Zeeko Zaki, who plays OA, also seemed to confirm Maggie isn’t leaving FBI in an interview with TVLine in May 2024. “As partners we’re very connected, so I think he made the right decision. You see with the characters on these shows, it feels like all they do is work, so I think a little time off is definitely very welcomed by her character,” Zaki said, seemingly confirming that Maggie’s absence from the series was temporary. “I really loved that moment [with Isobel]. On the day [we filmed], it wasn’t written that she kind of makes me make the decision….”
He continued, “To me, it was like, ‘My partner’s a little stressed out. Maybe you should do something,’ and then she turned it around on me, and it was a really great moment. I loved getting to play the grace between us and the connection that we have. We’re all human at the end of the day. We don’t want to burn out.”
Peregrym also told CinemaBlend about how she wanted Maggie to represent real-life single mothers who balance parenting while working. “I just think of single mothers who are out there doing this, by the way, all the time,” she said. “And they’ve got kids and they’re trying to provide childcare and the best education and all these things to give their kids opportunities, but they can only do that if they’re working.”
She continued, “But if they’re working, then they’re not available and they’re not home to be there to walk through these things with their kids the way they want to, and that struggle is very difficult. It’s very painful. And you know, I deal with that personally myself, with filming all the time and the guilt of not being with my kids as much as I’d like to, but also the work is important to me and also providing for the family.”
Still, Peregrym teased to CinemaBlend about the struggles Maggie deals with as a first-time parent with a job as risky as hers. “There’s a lot of stuff for Maggie to have to deal with, but it’s not like she can just go and say, ‘You know what, I think Ella should be with so and so,’” she said. “Jess asked Maggie to be the person and I know it wasn’t intended that she was going to die, but she did ask and that’s something that Maggie would take very, very, very seriously and she loves Ella. She cares about Ella, so emotionally Maggie is 100 perent in and wants to be that, but there’s also a concern if this is the best thing for Ella. What if I die? You know, what if Maggie gets hurt on the job and also now can’t be there for Ella? Now that’s twice that she’s lost somebody and I think that’s a huge thing that weighs on Maggie.”
She continued, “The other thing is that Maggie is a great person to have for Ella. Maggie lost her husband. I keep saying ‘I.’ Megan lost her husband. That’s how we meet her. She knows grief. She knows what it’s like to love and lose, and so having that experience is something that I can be there for Ella with. I understand that I can’t fix anything, which is very hard for me too, because I’m in the game of fixing, of there’s a problem and I have a solution and I’ll do whatever it takes to make things better, and it’s just not the same thing.”
Speculation around whether Maggie is leaving FBI came at the same time as CBS’ renewal of all three series in the FBI franchise — FBI, FBI: Most wanted, and FBI: International — in April 2024. All three series were renewed for three seasons, which means that FBI will air until at least Season 9.
If Maggie was to leave, she would follow a series of exits in the FBI franchise in 2024, including Damian Powell (played by Greg Hovanessian) from FBI: International; Jamie Kellett (played by Heidi Reed) from FBI: International; and Kristin Gaines (played by Alexis Davalos) on N.
FBI airs on CBS on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST and streams on Paramount+.
