Similar to the One Chicago franchise, Dick Wolf’s FBI franchise has been a huge success since the first show premiered on CBS. The reason for the franchise’s success is that it has lots of fans who look forward to things like FBI actor debuts. Similarly, when a new FBI spin-off is announced, those same fans tend to be very excited.
After the stunning cancellations of FBI; Most Wanted and FBI: International, there was still a reason to be excited about the franchise’s future since a new spin-off was in the works, CIA. If that wasn’t exciting enough, it was announced that Nick Gehlfuss, Tom Ellis, and Michael Michele would star in CIA, and the pilot would be directed by Eriq La Salle. Sadly, however, a pair of recent high-profile exits from the upcoming show has fans feeling worried.
Michael Michele suddenly exits CIA weeks into filming of FBI spin-off
In early September, it was announced that Michael Michele and Nick Gehlfuss had joined the cast of FBI’s latest spin-off, CIA. At that time, Deadline reported that Michele was believed to be playing the show’s third most important character, the head of the CIA’s New York Station.
Later that same month, it was reported that CIA had begun filming, and there was no indication that anything was going wrong at that time. However, In November 2025, Deadline gave observers a new CIA cast update that was a lot less exciting for people with high hopes for the show.
On November 1 2025, Deadline reported that Michele was leaving CIA only weeks into the filming of the upcoming show’s first season. That report did not explain the reason for the veteran and talented actor’s departure, although the outlet hinted at rumors that Michele’s character would be recast.
Eriq La Salle left his role as CIA’s executive producer
During the 1990s and 2000s, Eriq La Salle was one of television’s biggest stars thanks to his role portraying ER’s Dr. Peter Benton. Even though La Salle is still famous for his celebrated work in that classic medical drama, his career has been largely focused elsewhere for years now. While La Salle continues to take some acting roles, he has been a successful director for decades.
According to IMDb, La Salle has had a consistent presence behind the scenes of Dick Wolf’s One Chicago franchise. La Salle has helmed 1 Chicago Justice episode, 2 Chicago Med episodes, and 21 Chicago P.D. episodes. Since Wolf clearly trusts La Salle, it made sense when fans learned that the former ER actor would direct and executive produce CIA’s premiere episode.
However, two days after Michael Michele’s exit was publicly revealed, Deadline reported that La Salle had left his role as the executive producer of CIA’s debut episode. Similar to the report about Michele’s departure, no explanation for why La Salle was leaving CIA has been revealed as of the time of this writing.
It is important to note that Michele and La Salle’s exits aren’t the only examples of CIA’s behind-the-scenes upheaval. In July 2025, Deadline reported that CIA’s original showrunner, David Hudgins, was being replaced with Warren Leight, who’d previously been the boss for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Given all the behind-the-scenes disruption, there are obvious reasons to be concerned about CIA’s future. Hopefully, all of the changes will help ensure that the show will be great.
