Spin-offs
On January 29, 2019, it was announced that CBS had commissioned a backdoor pilot with an attached series commitment for a potential spin-off series titled FBI: Most Wanted, with the episode to air in the latter part of the first season. The series will focus on the division of the FBI tasked with tracking and capturing the most notorious criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
According to Dick Wolf, the spin-off is set to launch a series of interconnected shows similar to Wolf's Chicago and Law & Order franchises on NBC. Actors who have been cast were reported to be: Julian McMahon, Alana de la Garza, Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, and Nathaniel Arcand, as well as Keisha Castle-Hughes. On May 9, 2019, CBS announced that FBI: Most Wanted had been ordered to series. The series, created by René Balcer, premiered on January 7, 2020.
On February 18, 2021, it was reported that a third series of the FBI franchise with the working title FBI: International spin-off was in development. On March 24, 2021, CBS announced that the spin-off had been ordered to series. On July 8, 2021, it was reported that Luke Kleintank, Heida Reed and Vinessa Vidotto were set to casts in the spin-off and it premiered in September 2021.
In March 2025 both spin-offs were cancelled at CBS, weeks after the report that another spin-off was in development, which had prompted speculation about the future of the original spinoffs.
On January 22, 2025, it had been reported the new potential spin-off would be called FBI: CIA, with the same New York City setting as the original, with a focus on investigating domestic terrorism. According to reports, a possible backdoor pilot, co-written by FBI: Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins and a former CIA office, with three new characters was expected to air during FBI's seventh season in spring 2025. Two months later, it was reported that after the proposed backdoor pilot had been repeatedly pushed back toward the end of the season, the series was instead being considered for a straight-to-series pick-up with a title change but without the backdoor pilot launch, and with a new script, as casting was still underway and FBI was nearing the end of production for the season. In April 2025, it was announced Tom Ellis had been cast in one of the leading roles of the series, with the show getting a straight-to-series order for the upcoming season, with Hudgins as showrunner and a first episode set to be directed and produced by Eriq La Salle.
In May 2025 ahead of the upfronts, a CBS teaser first revealed Ellis' character as a CIA case officer called Hart Hoxton. The series, now called CIA, was announced to premiere in fall 2025 in a Monday 10 p.m. time slot after the original. At the time, CBS executive Amy Reisenbach commented about the prospect of three shows with acronyms airing after each other that "Marketing will have a lot of fun with it, and so will Stephen Colbert." Colbert had mocked the original title of the series on The Late Show the day after it was announced, mirroring a Deadline Hollywood comparison to the Adult Swim parody series NTSF:SD:SUV:..
In an interview published at the end of June 2025, Ellis said he had been doing chemistry reads as part of casting for a partner on the show, and confirmed his character would be American. In July 2025, with no further casting announced, it was revealed that the series had been pushed to midseason 2026, with Warren Leight taking over as showrunner from Hudgins. Siobhan Byrne O'Connor is listed as having role as a consulting producer.
Production began in New York City in September 2025 after additional casting announcements. In November 2025 it was reported that Michael Michele would be leaving the series several weeks after starting production. La Salle directed the pilot, but was reported to have left the role of executive producer of the series in November 2025. Later that month, it was reported that Leight was departing the series, which would briefly pause production, with Mike Weiss set to take over in addition to his role on the main series. It was announced in November 2025 that the spin-off would premiere on February 23, 2026, in a 10 p.m. Monday timeslot following the original show.
