Spoilers ahead for the Season 6 premiere of FBI: Most Wanted on CBS, called "Aquarium Drinker."
FBI: Most Wanted kicked off the sixth season in the 2024 TV schedule with the kind of terrifying fugitive that longtime fans have come to expect, and the case was rough on Remy mentally and physically. In fact, he was so physically rattled by the end that I was a little concerned about his health. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to speak with showrunner David Hudgins about the premiere, and he cleared the air about what's up with Remy... and weighed in on the callback to Crosby.
Remy returned to his apartment at the end of the episode, where Abby and his sister were waiting for him. This tracks with what the showrunner told CinemaBlend regarding the FBI: Most Wanted relationship updates about Remy and Abby, but the Supervisory Special Agent was suffering from a brutal headache after stating earlier that he's "getting too old for this crap." I immediately became concerned that Remy was going to have health problems in Season 6, so I took the chance to ask David Hudgins how literally we should take Remy's comments.
As it turns out? Not very literally at all. Hudgins explained:
No, that's just Remy being vulnerable in a moment with Abby. He's fine. He's not going anywhere. I just wanted in that first episode to have this big, terrifying fugitive, but I also wanted to ground it, because it's a dangerous job. We're not going to kill him or shoot him, but he's going to get whacked in the face. That happens, and he's a human being, and he felt it, so he just has that little vulnerable note with Abby at the end, a little bit of a 'woe is me,' but he's fine. His story this year is about Abby.
Worry not, FBI: Most Wanted fans! Remy's headache wasn't a sign of a brain tumor and his exhaustion wasn't a sign that he is indeed getting too old to keep doing this job in the field like in the earlier seasons. (You can find those seasons streaming with a Peacock subscription.) It was a vulnerable and frankly kind of endearing moment of Remy opening up to Abby, not a sign of impending doom.
Of course, this is the show that wrote out Julian McMahon by killing off Jess LaCroix in arguably one of the biggest twists out of all three FBI shows, so there is precedent for even a top-billed actor's character to die. David Hudgins clarified that we shouldn't worry much about that this season either:
This is a great team. The actors are terrific, and the stories are working. Nobody's going anywhere. They're here for all 22 episodes, not necessarily each one, but nobody's going anywhere. I don't enjoy killing off characters.
One great example of FBI: Most Wanted writing a character's exit without killing them is Kenny Crosby, played by Kellan Lutz from the series premiere to early Season 3. It's been a long time since he was written out to accommodate Lutz's desire to step away, but the Season 6 premiere proved that being gone doesn't mean being forgotten.
While connecting the dots about the murdered cop early in "Aquarium Drinker," Hana came up with a theory about why the victim and his girlfriend would have been sleeping in different rooms, and it all goes back to her days of sharing an apartment with Crosby and the need for a CPAP machine. Speaking to Remy, Hana said:
Do you remember I told you about my old roommate Crosby and how he used to snore a lot?... Well, he did.
It wasn't exactly a momentous update on what Crosby has been up to in minute detail since his departure in early Season 3, but I can't be the only longtime viewer to get a kick out of Hana giving him a shoutout. When I mentioned the moment to David Hudgins, the showrunner laughed and responded:
Yes, yes! I love that you caught that. I love that you caught that, because it could have been Ivan. It could have been somebody else who's a snorer. It was like, 'No, it's Crosby.' I loved Crosby and [I'm] glad to sort of keep that alive.
While the Crosby era of FBI: Most Wanted seems to be past by this point, there was one member of the team who was absent from the Season 6 premiere but will be back before too long. Roxy Sternberg will be back as Barnes, although Barnes will be back without Charlotte this time around.
See what's next for the task force with new episodes of FBI: Most Wanted on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET, following FBI: International with Jesse Lee Soffer's new headache-inducing agent at 9 p.m. ET and FBI in the post-Tiff era at 8 p.m. ET, all on CBS. You can also catch the newest episodes streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, although you'll need to head over to Peacock for earlier seasons of Most Wanted and International.
