FBI: Most Wanted’s fall finale was intense all around, but the case of the week particularly put Barnes and Ray through the wringer as they faced a band of dirty and very racist cops. Both escaped without any physical damage, and Ray could go home to Cora and Caleb. As for Barnes… well, I’m waiting for her to get some good news after her losses on the personal front. Of course, fans had already seen Barnes’ marriage fall apart; Remy getting a disappointing reaction from Abby and Hana learning about Ethan’s drug problem are more pressing relationship problems for the 2025 TV schedule.
Relationship Woes On The Task Force
None of the shows in CBS’ FBI universe are about relationships, but Most Wanted has dedicated screentime to each of the characters’ personal lives in Season 6 so far. Remy’s relationship with Abby seemed to be going as wonderfully as anything ever does on Most Wanted, and news that her work would keep her in New York longer than usual raised the possibility of cohabitation for as long as she was in town.
Abby turned down Remy’s offer, however, offering some somewhat thin but certainly valid excuses for not wanting to turn their long distance relationship into living together just because she caught a case in NYC. They didn’t break up at the end of the fall finale, but Remy wasn’t exactly jumping for joy after she declined to stay with him. (You can stream the fall finale now with a Paramount+ subscription.)
And while that’s certainly a bummer for Dylan McDermott’s character, it really pales in comparison to poor Hana going from looking forward to a night watching the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular with her wholesome boyfriend to learning about his drug habit and storming out of his apartment.
Showrunner David Hudgins’ comments about Michael Raymond-James’ role on the show suggest that Hana walking out wasn’t the end of his time on the show, though, so it remains to see what 2025 has in store for them. Maybe Hana needed to lean on somebody just like Barnes did when she leaned on Hana earlier this season! And speaking of Barnes...
I’m Ready For More Barnes
I’ve always been a fan of Barnes and Roxy Sternberg’s portrayal of the agent, and I'm lucky enough that Sternberg is one of the last two original series regulars still on board Most Wanted. The character actually missed the early episodes of Season 6, but the showrunner had previewed her arc when he spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the premiere in the fall. At the time, David Hudgins said:
Barnes is the one who's now divorced. Her kids are in D.C. We've got a story with Barnes this year, kind of trying to figure out what her identity is. 'Who am I?' She's not a wife anymore. She's still a mom, but she's single, and instead of just wallowing in her pity, she's going to do something about it and get out there. So she's going to meet some people, and we're going to have some fun stories where we really take Barnes places where she hasn't been before.
We’ve already seen the early stages of Barnes dealing with her divorce from Charlotte and her kids living hundreds of miles away, and the last Barnes-centric episode showed that while she was in the very early stages of processing her new situation, she was making progress. What we haven’t seen yet is Barnes “going to do something about it and get out there.”
The showrunner’s comments back in October don’t mean that fans should 100% count on a love connection for the character so soon after her split from Charlotte, but they do at least indicate that we could be getting another juicy Barnes episode once FBI: Most Wanted returns in the new year. Even though the show needs to continue Remy and Hana’s relationship storylines and there are still big questions about Nina, I’m optimistic about time being reserved for Roxy Sternberg’s character to get the spotlight again.
For now, fans just have to wait for FBI: Most Wanted (as well as FBI and FBI: International) to return to CBS. The winter premieres for all three shows are scheduled for Monday, January 27 in their usual time slots. With some weeks of hiatus left to go at this point, you can always revisit earlier episodes of the most recent seasons on Paramount+. I might go back to the first big Barnes episode of Season 6, in hopes of what could follow sooner rather than later in 2025!
