FBI Season 7 is finally coming back to CBS in the 2025 TV schedule, more than a month after OA's deadly ordeal in the fall finale. Scola will be at the center of the action in the winter premiere, called "Descent," on January 28 when a terrorist plot involving commercial flights triggers his memories of when his brother died during the 9/11 attacks. Shantel VanSanten is crossing over from FBI: Most Wanted as Nina, and actor John Boyd opened up to CinemaBlend about the high stakes for Scola as well as what he was so excited to discover executive producer/showrunner Mike Weiss had planned for Scolina.
The threat facing the team in the winter premiere kicks off with an investigation into the death of an assistant U.S. attorney's, and the problems will escalate until they have a race against the clock to stop a terrorist threat. All in all, it sounds like the kind of crisis that FBI: CIA would be well suited for if that potential spinoff scores a series order. Scola, who has struggled with the death of his brother over John Boyd's 100+ episodes so far, understandably will have a lot on his mind. (You can revisit earlier episodes featuring Scola's feelings about his brother's death with a Paramount+ subscription.)
So, when I spoke with John Boyd about what Scola needs in a partner after losing Tiff, I also asked: just how high are the stakes for "Descent" as FBI's winter premiere? He shared:
They're pretty high. We're dealing with one of the worst American tragedies in our country's history. It's indicative of 9/11, it's about the hijacking of planes, and the team having to thwart this terrorist group from taking over the nav systems and hijacking planes and crashing them into targets, and that's quite a sore subject for this country. So it was intense to shoot. I think we did it justice, and I hope that people like it, but yeah, the stakes are high.
Of course, FBI is not only set in New York, but films there as well, so it's no wonder that an episode with this subject matter would be "intense to shoot." I asked the actor if filming in the city makes an episode like this hit harder, and Boyd – an NYC native himself – said:
It does. I mean, every time. Every time I look at the lower Manhattan skyline, I don't know about other people, but that's what I think about. I don't know if I've ever looked at lower Manhattan and not thought about that, and maybe it's because I'm playing a character and this is such a part of him and living here and seeing it, but yeah, it still hits home, as it should. It's just such a sore subject for Scola, but I think that he learns from this case, and he's able to move through it, and there's some closure. I think it's a good personal storyline for him, and I'm excited for our fans and the audience to see it.
It's been some time since FBI revisited Scola's feelings about losing his brother, although both John Boyd's show and FBI: Most Wanted often feature Baby Dougie, Nina and Scola's son named in Douglas' honor. As a procedural, FBI doesn't always have running emotional storylines like this, and Boyd opened up about getting to revisit it:
I was really excited when Mike [Weiss] told me about the episode. There's this letter on Scola's desk at the beginning of the episode that we find out he's been avoiding reading. After going through the case, he's at a new place. He's able to ask Nina for help, and he's able to face what's in that letter. But he's a more seasoned agent at this point. I think he's grown up. I don't think Scola is as angry about the loss of his brother as he once was. I think the last time we broached this subject, he was still really carrying that pain, in a way, but becoming a father and having a partner, I think that he's able to move through this in a way. It's a beautiful, cathartic moment of grief and loss and connection for him to someone he loved, which hopefully our viewers relate to.
It sounds like the timing couldn't be better for Scola to have Nina on hand as a source of support, with Shantel VanSanten crossing over from FBI: Most Wanted shortly before that show's winter premiere airs. John Boyd appeared on Most Wanted in the fall; now, it's VanSanten's turn as Nina on FBI. The actor only had good things to say about working with VanSanten again, as well as what the EP and the writers planned for their reunion:
I was so happy that Mike Weiss and the writers put her in the episode. When I heard about it, they hadn't said that she was going to be in it. They just told me about this 9/11 commission kind of thing and how it was a real thing, and it was really, really interesting. Mike told me that Scola opens this letter at the end of the episode, and in my mind, I went, 'Oh, it would be so cool if Nina read that to him.' And of course, that's what they wrote. He already had the idea, and I was so happy. So I called him, and I was like, 'I can't believe you guys wrote that! That's exactly what I was hoping once you told me.' So I was really happy to have Shantel there. She's wonderful.
Boyd of course didn't spoil everything that's going to happen in FBI's first episode of the new year, but "Descent" should be a pretty intense episode both for the agents on the job and Scola when it comes to memories of his brother. For a sneak peek at the case of the week, check out Jubal and Co. digging into what information they have:
Tune in to CBS on Tuesday, January 28 at 8 p.m. ET for the winter premiere of FBI Season 7, followed by the returns of FBI: International Season 4 at 9 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted Season 6 at 10 p.m. ET. VanSanten will be back with the Most Wanted team by the end of the night, as the fall finale didn't end on a cliffhanger for her character. That's not the case for Vinessa Vidotto on International, though, as Vo's fate was uncertain when fans last saw her.
You can revisit all three shows' fall finales streaming on Paramount+ if you need a refresher, as well as the winter premieres after they air on CBS.
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