Dick Wolf brought his magic procedural touch to CBS in the 2018-2019 TV season with FBI. The new show quickly proved that he could deliver hits on the Eye Network as well as over on NBC with the Law & Order/Chicago franchise, and a spinoff of FBI is in the works. Well, the spinoff -- called FBI: Most Wanted -- will feature a familiar face from past Dick Wolf projects, if ordered to series. Alana de la Garza of Law & Order fame landed a role.
In FBI: Most Wanted, Alana de la Garza would play Assistant Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castile. She is the Fugitive Squad Supervisor, and she brings the focus and polish she gained at West Point to her job with the FBI. Spending a brief time in Silicon Valley undoubtedly impacted how she does her job, and she avoids politics when she can. Deadline describes Castile as “a rising star” and “a guided missile.”
Alana de la Garza is no stranger to procedurals, although her work on Law & Order required her to play a very different kind of character than she’ll tackle of FBI: Most Wanted. On Law & Order, De la Garza played Assistant U.S. Attorney Connie Rubirosa. Like all lawyers in the Law & Order franchise, Connie didn’t have the easiest and least stressful job in the world, but Castile on FBI: Most Wanted will undoubtedly see De la Garza play a character stressed in whole different ways.
In addition to Law & Order, Alana de la Garza played Connie Rubirosa in an episode of Law & Order: SVU and in eight episodes of the short-lived Law & Order: LA. Interestingly, De la Garza’s procedural experience didn’t all go down on NBC. She had roles in CSI: Miami, Scorpion, Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, and even NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS. Although she is almost certainly best known for her Law & Order performances, she’s no stranger to CBS.
At this point, there’s no 100% guarantee that she’ll make it to the small screen as star of an FBI spinoff, but the odds are pretty good. The project, which will follow the FBI division that focuses on capturing the criminals deemed the Most Wanted, scored a series commitment. This means that a pickup with multiple episodes for the 2019-2020 season is likely, although not guaranteed.
If FBI: Most Wanted does score a series order and makes it to the airwaves, Alana de la Garza will star opposite Julian McMahon of Runaways and Nip/Tuck as well as Keisha Castle-Hughes of Game of Thrones (as one of the Sand Snakes) and Manhunt: Unabomber.
The planted spinoff won’t be connected to Dick Wolf just in name. Wolf teamed up with Law & Order writer and producer Rene Balcer for the script, with Law & Order vet Fred Berner directing. The series commitment is a significant show of faith from CBS given that FBI has not yet completed even a single full season. The reaction to FBI must have been positive enough for CBS to feel a new project based in that universe is already justified. Unsurprisingly, FBI has already been renewed for Season 2.
Tune in to CBS on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of FBI in the midseason TV lineup.
