Missy Peregrym has been the leading lady of CBS’ FBI from the very beginning, but the actress bowed out of Season 4 as Maggie more than a month before what was originally scheduled as the season finale. She left early for a good reason, though – the actress was taking maternity leave, and she has now announced the birth of her second child. Along with the sweet message in honor of her new daughter, she revealed when she’ll return to the CBS drama in Season 5.
In an Instagram post on July 8, Missy Peregym revealed that her daughter Mela Joséphine Oakley was born on June 6. She also used the caption to share when she’ll return to FBI, and there’s good news and bad news for fans who have been missing Maggie since back in April. She wrote:
[FBI] is starting up again in a couple weeks, but I will be returning to work in September. I’m relieved and grateful that I am afforded the space to bond with my family, to rest and heal and be a mother (which is harder than work!). I understand this is a luxury, and I wish every mother/parent/caretaker had this too. Thank you for all the love, prayers and support from this community.
While FBI will return to filming soon, Missy Peregrym still has a couple of months of maternity leave with her family. It was already known that the sarin gas exposure that took Maggie out of commission wasn’t Missy Peregrym’s farewell for good, and the rest of the cast found a way to include her when they celebrated the two-season renewal. What wasn’t known was whether or not Maggie would be back with her team with FBI’s Season 5 premiere in September. She’ll be back in the first half of Season 5, but not at the very beginning.
The actress clearly appreciates that she is able to enjoy her maternity leave for another couple of months rather than rush back into work on the action-packed show shortly after giving birth to her daughter. The show actually handled her first pregnancy in a similar way; after Maggie left Season 2 early for an undercover operation for Peregym’s maternity leave, the actress was back on set by early October.
Missy Peregrym also used her post to share some details about giving birth to her daughter, as well as an adorable picture of her two kids snuggled up. Take a look:
Congratulations to Missy Peregrym and her family on the safe birth of her daughter, and getting the extra time to bond together! Even though FBI viewers will have to go a little longer without seeing Maggie than OA and the rest, it’s for a happy reason. Plus, Maggie’s final episode of Season 4 (which you can rewatch with a Paramount+ subscription) didn’t give a precise timetable for when she would be back, so her not being back in the Season 5 premiere doesn’t necessarily mean a downturn in Maggie's health after the sarin gas exposure.
There is the question of how FBI will fill the empty slot with Maggie absent in the beginning of Season 5. The show brought in Chicago P.D.’s Tracy Spiridakos at the end of Season 2 during Peregrym's first maternity leave, with the goal of her partnering with OA for multiple episodes, although pandemic production shutdowns cut that crossover down to one episode. The end of Season 4 brought in Shantel VanSanten, and it seems likely that she’ll stick around into Season 5 with Maggie still out.
FBI returns for Season 5 on Tuesday, September 20 at 8 p.m. ET to start the night of FBI action on CBS, followed by FBI: International at 9 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted. It’s still not clear if the network will ever air the episode that was originally planned as the Season 4 finale, but bumped from primetime in light of a real-life tragedy. For now, you can find some viewing options to help pass the time until September with our 2022 TV premiere schedule.
