CBS is still going strong with FBI Season 8 in the 2026 TV schedule, and there’s extra good news for any fans who were concerned that the drama wasn’t part of the network's ten-show mass renewal back in January or even paired with CIA’s renewal announcement. There’s a good reason for that: FBI was already renewed through Season 9 years ago, and one star recently opened up to CinemaBlend about why that’s a “huge relief.” I certainly understand her perspective, especially considering how FBI: International ended last year.
FBI Was Renewed Years Ago
While both FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International were cancelled last spring, FBI has been able to move forward without that threat for the past several years. Back in April 2024, CBS renewed it for another three seasons, bringing it up to Season 9. It wasn’t the first time that the network renewed it for more than one season at a time, but three was still pretty shocking... in the best way.
For Season 8 newcomer Juliana Aidén Martinez, that renewal back in 2024 meant that she was coming off of just one season as a Law & Order: SVU series regular to a show that was already guaranteed to have a spot in the 2026-2027 TV schedule. She was all-in on jumping right into the “deep end” as Agent Eva Ramos. Now, in the wake of the 150th milestone episode that's currently available with a Paramount+ subscription, she opened up about that Season 9 guarantee:
It's incredible. I mean, it definitely beats waiting around anxiously to see if you're coming back or not at the show itself. [laughs] And so I think it's a huge relief, and it's something in which you can put your energy and attention on how you can come back next season as a whole team, cast and crew, and make a show even better. And so it's a huge relief, and also it's great because then you could start just putting all your energy on, like, how are we going to show up even better next year.
While it’s too early for the cast of FBI’s ninth round to be finalized, the Season 8 premiere shockingly killing off Agent Dani Rhodes was an exception rather than the rule of how the CBS usually returns each fall. Eva’s bond with Scola is closer than ever after the events of the 150th episode, despite her spending the episode trying not to take a case too personally when a criminal from her past resurfaced.
The bad guy got away before the final credits rolled on the 150th episode, and Juliana Aidén Martinez’s comments about whether Eva felt she redeemed herself suggest what could be a great storyline to revisit in Season 9. She shared:
No, I don't [think so]. I think that's going to be an ongoing journey. I don't think she was able to get the guy. I think there were moments that she didn't handle it maybe the best way that she could, but she did her best at the moment, and I think that it's an area in which she will have to grow and forgive herself and learn to let go. But I don't think she ends up feeling redeemed.
An “ongoing journey” sounds great in the context of a show that will definitely be back in the fall, presumably still paired with CIA in primetime. The idea of a storyline that can continue just months after the finale did remind me of how FBI: International wrapped up last spring… or didn’t wrap up, at least compared to FBI: Most Wanted.
FBI: International's Permanently Open Ending
The anniversary of FBI: international’s series finale is coming up in just a couple of months, with the show ending in the same season that added Chicago P.D. vet Jesse Lee Soffer and Station 19 alum Jay Montgomery. The cancellation was announced in early March 2025, which gave FBI: Most Wanted the time to produce a finale that showrunner David Hudgins described as a “proper goodbye.”
In comparison, FBI: International ended on an episode that would have be great for a season finale, with Wes flying solo for most of the hour with the potential for the team coming together to close the case in the fall. The show was reportedly cancelled for financial reasons at CBS, so that story will remain open-ended forever unless FBI or CIA revisit it.
None of this is to say that the legacy of FBI: International was ruined by the finale, and I still consider it a rare show that could survive the departures and replacements of series regulars without missing a beat. Still, a proper ending would have been nice, which makes it all the sweeter that FBI fans have another year to go without having to wonder about Season 10.
For now, keep tuning in to CBS on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of FBI, between DMV at 8:30 p.m. ET and CIA at 10 p.m. ET. (DMV was one of two shows cancelled by CBS.) You can count on new episodes of FBI until the Season 8 finale on May 18, and one of the next will deliver a new workplace romance for the unlucky-in-love OA.
