It's been a winding road for the latest FBI spinoff series to make its way to CBS, and the road continues to discover even more unexpected turns. As production began on the upcoming offshoot series CIA, the cast has been hit with quite the major blow as one of the series leads has officially departed the series after a couple months into production on season 1.
CIA will be lead by Chicago Med favorite Nick Gehlfuss and Lucifer star Tom Ellis. Gehlfuss plays an FBI agent while Ellis plays a CIA case officer. The actors were to be accompanied by fellow series lead Michael Michele, who was to play the head of the CIA's New York Station, but CIA now deals with the abrupt exit of one of its leading stars in the middle of production.
Michael Michele departs FBI spinoff series CIA during filming
According to Deadline, Michael Michele left CIA, though it's unclear whether the actress decided to exit the series on her own or if it was a creative decision by the studio, network, or producers. Deadline notes that the role could be recast, but again, it's unclear if that would mean the series would have to re-film all of Michele's scenes with a new actress.
Michele's exit from CIA comes as the actress has excitedly documented her preparations for the role on social media. Most recently, Michele shared a video on Instagram on Oct. 12 as she headed to set at the break of dawn with undereye patches on and sharing love for New York City sanitation teams. Michele hasn't addressed her exit yet on social media or revealed the reason behind the departure.
As alluded to, CIA has been seemingly hitting snag after snag on its road to actually making its premiere on CBS. The spinoff series was ordered to series back in April 2025, but by July, CIA was pushed from a fall 2025 premiere to a midseason bow sometime in 2026. Additionally, FBI: Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins was replaced with former SVU boss Warren Leight as showrunner. The show has been fielding changes left and right behind the scenes.
CIA's creation came on the heels of a complete reconfiguring of the FBI franchise. Both spinoff series, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International, were sadly canceled by CBS in March 2025 and ended after six and four seasons respectively. Since getting fast-tracked with a straight-to-series order for CIA, it's been one thing after another with the show's production. Fingers crossed, there are no filming delays.
Hopefully, fans will have a chance to learn the real reason behind Michael Michele no longer being part of the show. We were definitely looking forward to seeing the former ER cast member and Dynasty standout in the new procedural series alongside two fellow familiar faces that fans know and love. Sometimes casting shakeups like this happen, though they typically happen after the pilot stage. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how CIA addresses losing a major character and star.
FBI airs Mondays at 9/8c on CBS, streaming next day on Paramount+