The FBI team is officially back in action on CBS following the Season 5 premiere, which was so explosive that it shifted OA’s priorities when it comes to protocol. All hands that were available were on deck for the first episode of the fall TV season, but Maggie is sadly still off-screen as she recovers from her exposure to sarin gas back in Season 4. She will be back since OA saved her life (and once actress Missy Peregrym returns from her maternity leave), and co-star Zeeko Zaki opened up about why fans should be excited about it.
Zeeko Zaki spoke with CinemaBlend about FBI’s return to primetime for its fifth season, including how the show would start its premiere in a different way from what viewers were used to. When I asked what he was excited for fans to finally get to see now that hiatus is over, the actor shared:
I'm excited for the fans to get to see Missy Peregrym's return, and I'm super excited because as I'm filming it, I feel like it's another almost season beginning. There's going to be these nice chapters and these nice kind of refreshing moments that hopefully throughout the next two seasons, just kind of keep everybody on the hook. Whatever we find is hopefully a groove, but it's unpredictable. [laughs] Which doesn't sound like a groove but I think it will [be].
I think it’s safe to say that plenty of fans were already looking forward to seeing Missy Peregrym’s return as Maggie (even though Shantel VanSanten’s Nina Chase has been a great addition to the team in Maggie’s absence), but his comments are even more reason to be excited. He also looked far ahead to the future, noting that FBI was renewed for not one but two more seasons back in the spring. Whatever the future holds, it’s clear that this show hit enough of a “groove” to become a major hit for CBS.
It’s still not clear when exactly viewers can expect to see Maggie back, although Missy Peregrym herself revealed back in July that she would be returning to work in September. Shantel VanSanten also previewed how long she would remain on board at FBI back in August, saying that she’d signed on for ten episodes of the show. She appeared in four episodes of Season 4, presumably the Season 4 finale that was postponed, and the Season 5 premiere, suggesting that there’s at least another month or so of Nina Chase in FBI’s future.
There’s also the question of what kind of shape Maggie will be in once Peregrym does come back. She was exposed to sarin gas back in April in the course of a case that triggered OA, whose feelings about the chemical weapon weren’t exactly helped by his close friend and longtime partner nearly dying. She has had several months to recover off screen, so it’s possible that she’ll be fighting fit with no further health problems from the gas. At the same time, I can imagine FBI easing the agent back into her work due to the severity of what happened to her.
For now, fans can just wait, see, and be excited for her return with new episodes of FBI on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The delayed Season 4 finale is also finally going to air, with the episode (which will be big for Jubal) releasing on October 4.
