Spoilers ahead for Episode 4 of FBI: Most Wanted Season 6, called "Pig Butchering" and streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.
Barnes made her long-awaited return to FBI: Most Wanted in the fall 2024 TV schedule, and she followed her gut about a distressing call from a teen girl until she and the rest of the team stopped some very bad people. Lives were saved and criminals were stopped, but Remy was still furious with Barnes after she went rogue to investigate the call. He ultimately dropped a threat that he'd cut her from the Task Force if she went rogue again. Actress Roxy Sternberg opened up to CinemaBlend about the clash, and I'm very intrigued by what the actress said her character would "consider."
Toward the very end of "Pig Butchering," Barnes chased after Remy to apologize for going rogue and explain that she was following her gut, but the SSA wasn't having it, and he wasn't mollified by her reminding him of when the team helped him find his brother's killer. He reminded her that he's the boss and he decides which cases the Task Force takes, then said:
Listen, I'm not blind. I get what's going on. But when you let whatever's going on in your life cloud your professional judgment, that doesn't work for me... I like you, Barnes. I really do. But this is not the first time we locked horns, so I'm gonna keep it real for you. You pull a stunt like that again, you're off the team.
Ouch! While Remy wasn't obligated to shower Barnes with compliments about how following her gut resulted in the team saving lives, he was pretty harsh with her. He also wasn't wrong that she was affected by having to go home to an empty apartment with her kids hundreds of miles away in a new life, but his blunt warning to Barnes made me very glad that she reached out to Hana in the final scene of the episode rather than keeping her woes to herself.
Luckily, I was able to touch base with actress Roxy Sternberg over email, and she shared how Remy's warning about cutting her from the team will affect Barnes moving forward:
I mean it’s real. It’s scary. It’s a warning which I don’t take lightly. It also comes as a surprise. I thought I would get some kind’ve 'Well done.' I think it will affect the way she works in the future.
The confrontation between Barnes and Remy hits particularly hard after FBI: Most Wanted improved their friendship last season, but as the boss pointed out, they got off to a rocky start. He had already joined the team for several episodes before she returned, and she more than any of the other agents was affected by Jess dying the way he did.
And it was back in the days of Jess as leader of the Fugitive Task Force that I always felt like Barnes was the second-in-command of the team, but that hasn't consistently been the case under Remy. So, would Barnes ever be interested in moving up and becoming a Supervisory Special Agent? Roxy Sternberg gave her very intriguing answer to that very question:
I think it’s definitely something she’d consider…
That of course doesn't mean that Barnes will be chasing a promotion by the midseason finale or that the roster of the Fugitive Task Force is going to change; showrunner David Hudgins even said ahead of the Season 6 premiere that "nobody's going anywhere" for all 22 episodes. Still, it would be interesting to see Barnes look ahead to possibly making changes in her professional future as she goes through so much change in her personal life.
Whatever she does or doesn't consider, I hope that all FBI: Most Wanted fans can agree that it's always great to see Barnes and Hana – a.k.a. the last two members of the original cast still on board – leaning on each other. Sternberg explained why Hana is the person she turned to when she needed support in this latest episode:
They’ve worked together for many years! She’s a good friend – naturally she’s the one Barnes gravitates to during this time!
Whatever the future holds for Barnes, the action is certainly going to continue for the Fugitive Task Force. Based on the promo for the next episode, the agents will be chasing the criminals behind a string of robberies. With this being FBI: Most Wanted, I would not be surprised if bodies started dropping along the way! Take a look:
As always, new episodes of FBI: Most Wanted will continue closing out CBS' night of action on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET, following FBI: International at 9 p.m. ET and FBI at 10 p.m. ET. You can catch up on the current seasons streaming now on Paramount+, but will have to use a Peacock subscription to revisit past seasons of Most Wanted and International.
