FBI‘s spinoff CIA is getting to a rough start with onscreen tension between Tom Ellis‘ character Colin and Nick Gehlfuss‘ Bill.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Monday, February 23, premiere of the hit CBS series, Bill is introduced as an FBI special agent who clashes with CIA case officer Colin.
“[The suspect is] cuffed to a radiator in the bathroom, I will read him his rights,” Bill says before Colin points out that the man is “not” under arrest. “We don’t do this to people in America. The FBI follows the constitution — so do I.”
Colin calls out Bill’s judgement of the CIA, adding, “There it is. You don’t like the way I work.” In response Bill clarifies he has “a duty to uphold the law.”
“I took an oath, how about you?” Bill fires back, to which Colin says, “Don’t wave old glory at me. You surrendered your leverage when you screwed up.”
Bill continues to be frustrated by how Colin “didn’t follow orders.” He is even more thrown off when he realizes Colin’s secret agenda, saying, “If you are not going to listen to a word I say then why even have me … you just need me and my shield to operate on U.S soil. I am just a tool to you?”
Colin, meanwhile, stands by his approach.
“I need you to work domestically. This is my operation and not your case. If you have a problem with that then there’s the door. But I read your file and I actually think I know your mind better than you know it yourself,” he explains. “I can tell deep down that you are dying to do what I do. You have been living this black and white life that you know is bollocks. You know this is where the real problems get solved — in the gray.”
He continues: “Either get onboard or don’t but make your mind up right now because I have a job to do. The FBI closes cases, we keep the world safe.”
FBI debuted on CBS in 2019 and follows the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York City. The network followed that up with FBI: Most Wanted, which aired from 2020 to 2025, about the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fugitive Task Force. There was also the FBI: International spinoff about the International Fly Team that ran for four seasons before concluding in 2025.
In April 2025, CBS gave CIA a straight-to-series order starring Ellis and Gehlfuss. According to the official synopsis, CIA centers on “two unlikely partners — a fast-talking, rule-breaking loose cannon CIA case officer and a by-the-book, seasoned and smart FBI agent who believes in the rule of law.”
The description continued: “When this odd couple are assigned to work out of CIA’s New York Station, they must learn to work together to investigate cases and criminals posing threats on U.S. soil, finding that their differences may actually be their strength.”
“The FBI deals in crimes that have already happened predominantly and the CIA try to stop the crime from happening in the first place,” Ellis exclusively told Us Weekly while breaking down his new CBS show. “FBI is a very public present arm of the law enforcement. They’re the poster boy of U.S. law enforcement. And the CIA is very much in the shadows — and doesn’t want to be on any poster. It doesn’t want people to see who they are and they operate in a very sort of voyeuristic manner.”
Ellis found CIA to be the perfect watch for fans of procedurals — regardless of whether they saw FBI.
“The show is really going to be worth the wait because I think it’s for anyone that loves FBI, they’re going to love it. For anyone who loves the Dick Wolf world, they’re going to love it,” he shared. “And for people that want a new show — that don’t watch either of those things — there’s something for those people as well. It’s got a lot of things, and it’s got humor in it as well, which is always a big selling point for me.”
CIA premieres on CBS Monday, February 23, at 10 p.m. ET.
