FBI: International's winter break ahead of its 2025 TV schedule return has felt painfully long when it comes to waiting to find out Vo's fate. The fall finale back in 2024 featured Vo being shot in exactly the wrong place, narrowly missing her bulletproof vest, and the episode ended with the agent's odds of survival not looking good. The winter premiere on January 28, called "The Kill Floor" can finally resolve the cliffhanger of Vo's fate... for better or worse, but there are also new problems on the hunt for Greg Csonka.
Speaking with CinemaBlend about not seeing Vo's injury coming, star Vinessa Vidotto reflected on filming the bloody sequence and getting so deep into the research that she felt like she "might be dying."
Vinessa Vidotto filming the final episode of 2024 without knowing herself what Vo's fate would be, but she watched the fall finale with the rest of the cast and said that it was an "epic" experience. (The episode is streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.) Ahead of the winter premiere, I asked the actress what it was like to see herself looking as near-death as Vo did after being shot, and she shared:
I was hoping that it would translate, because when I was in the ambulance and whatnot, I did research. I didn't do research on how you really react when you're dying or when you've been shot, but I did research on how to react when you get shot, the moment that it happens. But I was watching a documentary, and it was saying when people get shot or stabbed, there's so many different reactions. There's actually not one. And when you get shot, some people experience this hot pain, extreme hot pain immediately, within like three seconds, excruciating, where you're sweating and you're screaming. And some don't feel it for a while, or don't feel it at all, so it was cool to know that there's not one right way.
Based on the finished sequence, Vinessa Vidotto seems to have gone with a middle ground for Vo's pain after being shot: she wasn't screaming but the agent was clearly in a lot of pain while gasping and sweating. It didn't help the character that she couldn't receive help right away, first being dragged to safety by Wes and then having to wait for an ambulance to arrive. The actress went on to elaborate on the direction she went for showing Vo's pain:
So you just talk to the director. 'How would you like me to react? Would you like me passing out? Are my eyes closed? Am I having trouble breathing? Are my eyes rolling back?' And so all I tried to channel was, 'I think I'm dying.'
The fall finale ended without revealing whether Vo would be like Kellett and recover from being shot back in FBI: International Season 1, be killed off a la Jess on FBI: Most Wanted, or a third option, but the character certainly wasn't doing well. Vidotto went on:
I don't know how to explain it and it sounds so cheesy, but I was acting as if, 'I think I'm dying.' [laughs] I don't know how to explain that. It sounds like, 'Okay, yeah, that's how you're supposed to act,' but when I was doing it, I felt like, 'I think I might be dying myself!' [laughs] I was convincing myself, and my sister was on set with me. She lives with me. She's my assistant, so she was there for the day I got shot, and she was crying. She's like, 'I can't. You actually look like you're dying.' She's my biggest cheerleader, but she might be biased, but I hope it translated.
I would certainly say that it translated, and it's a compliment to Vidotto's performance that her sister was in tears over Vo's fate back in the fall! The actress also credited the hair and makeup teams for helping sell just how badly Vo was doing, saying "They know what they're doing – I looked sickly."
It remains to be seen how "sickly" Vo will be in the winter premiere, and CBS is keeping a tight lid on footage from the episode, but a sneak peek reveals that the rest of the Fly Team is desperate for news:
The Fly Team won't be spending the whole winter premiere in the hospital waiting on Vo, as they'll chase Greg Csonka to Paris. Another member of the Fly Team will go missing, so the stakes are certainly sky-high for the first episode of 2025.
Tune in to CBS on Tuesday, January 28 at 9 p.m. ET for the winter premiere of FBI: International, between FBI revisiting Scola's major loss at 8 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted getting messy for Nina at 10 p.m. ET. Earlier episodes of all three shows are also available streaming on Paramount+.
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