Spoilers ahead for Episode 19 of FBI Season 4, called “Face Off.”
After FBI changed everything by exposing Missy Peregym’s Maggie to sarin gas to write her off for the rest of Season 4, the focus shifted over to Alana De La Garza’s Isobel Castille. Not too long after the show filled in some blanks about Isobel’s backstory, she found herself under scrutiny while attempting to lead the team in chasing down a brutal killer. She ended up attacked by the killer in her own home, but wasn’t so shaken that she quit the case. It was just another example of why she holds such a position of power in the FBI universe, and why the FBI spinoffs bring her in from time to time.
Although Alana De La Garza is a series regular on FBI, she frequently crosses over to lend a hand on FBI: Most Wanted and (less frequently) FBI: International. Most Wanted brought her back in the wake of Jess’ emotional death, and she was part of the scene that revealed why Barnes was going to be absent from the show for a while. FBI showrunner Rick Eid recently spoke with CinemaBlend, and shared how closely the mothership works with the spinoff and Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins to handle the mini crossovers, saying:
If we do a crossover and there's a real storyline or a real character revelation or something, we obviously work closely together, but if it's just the scene that they're in, and it's kind of all business, someone will tell me that Alana is doing a couple of scenes of Most Wanted, and I'm like 'Great.' [laughs] But if they were to reveal she's married or she's got three kids, that would obviously be a conversation. Or if something was going to happen to her that would impact her character on the mothership, we would obviously discuss it and make sure it all works. But if it's more of just a crossover informational kind of scene, you know, I trust David Hudgins to do it the right way. So there's not too much back and forth on it.
Major crossovers between FBI and FBI: Most Wanted are relatively rare, especially in the wake of pandemic production complications, although they did deliver a major event to launch FBI: International back in the fall. Isobel’s more frequent crossovers tend to be for a scene here and there; according to Rick Eid (who formerly served as showrunner for Chicago P.D. as well as FBI to deliver a crossover between those shows), he and FBI: Most Wanted’s David Hudgins handle her character in their own ways as long as there are no huge reveals about her.
So, it’s safe to say that Most Wanted wouldn’t have introduced a different backstory for Isobel’s father, when FBI had plans for that storyline, and the Vargas storyline was very important to her character development on the mothership. In “Face Off” on April 26, there were reasons for concern that Isobel would have some new issues to deal with on an ongoing basis after she spent the episode being second-guessed and made one less-than-perfect call, but she's poised to remain in her position as SAC. She followed her instincts, and a little girl survived because of it.
Keeping Isobel at the forefront of the investigations is especially welcome in light of the news that Maggie won’t be back until Season 5 while Missy Peregrym is on her maternity leave for the rest of the 2021-2022 TV season. FBI has added Shantel VanSanten to fill that vacancy for the rest of Season 4, and Rick Eid also previewed a finale involving Jubal (who went through a deep personal loss of his own this season) and his son, as well as an exciting episode dealing with OA’s past.
New episodes of FBI air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, ahead of FBI: International at 9 p.m. and FBI: Most Wanted at 10 p.m. Be sure to check out our 2022 spring finale schedule to find out when the FBIs and more of TV’s biggest shows will end for the current season.
