In the FBI season 7 finale, the FBI team worked to bring down an anti-government terrorist group that managed to infiltrate the bureau.
During the attack, a bomb killed FBI ADIC Reynolds and nearly took the life of FBI SAC Isobel Castille. Fortunately, Isobel survived the attack and the team was able to bring the terrorist group to justice and save the day. While the good guys did get the win, their victory was short-lived when in the closing moments, Isobel suddenly collapsed with Jubal unable to find a pulse.
The moment left fans to wonder whether the injuries Isobel sustained during the explosion were more severe than anticipated, but fans remained optimistic that it was simply a fake-out. That was a reasonable hope to have, but the official synopsis for the season 8 premiere seems to hint that perhaps Isobel is in more danger than we initially expected.
In the official synopsis for the premiere, “Takeover,” it’s revealed that Jubal is feeling the pressure when he takes on a new leadership role. No additional details are provided on the exact role Jubal has been tasked with taking on; however, CBS did choose to release a new photo from the premiere, which features Jubal standing in an office that looks pretty similar to Isobel’s office.
Could it be that this new leadership role Jubal is taking on is that of FBI SAC? More importantly, could Jubal be taking over this job because Isobel did not survive? That’s definitely where our mind went first; however, that feels a bit too obvious. Would CBS really give away the answer to the mystery of whether Isobel dies that easily? We just aren’t convinced they would.
What they would do is look to make it seem like Isobel’s fate is sealed and they’ve done just that. Teasing that Jubal has ended up in a new leadership role and then dropping a photo of Jubal in Isobel’s office, a pensive look painted on his face is more than enough to cause concern and get us speculating that Isobel has died. There are, however, two other possible outcomes fans should be considering.
The first is that Isobel is simply still recovering from her near-death experience and is on leave from the FBI. With Isobel out, the bureau would need to appoint a temporary SAC and Jubal would likely be the natural successor to step in during that time.
Now, the other possibility is that following the death of ADIC Reynolds, Isobel has been promoted and taken on the role of ADIC at the bureau which would result in the need for a new SAC. With Isobel moving up the chain of command, it would make sense for her to want Jubal to be her No. 2 in command and promote him to SAC. This would honestly be a natural progression for both characters and a storyline we certainly could get behind.
With FBI season 8 set to premiere on Oct. 13, we’ll know soon enough whether Isobel survives or not, but we’re going to remain optimistic in the meantime as we can’t imagine FBI without Alana De La Garza.