CIA: Release date news, cast details, streaming details and more about the upcoming FBI spin-off

CIA kicks off Monday, February 23, 2026, at 10/9c, sliding in right after FBI returns for its midseason run.

The show was supposed to launch in Fall 2025, but plans changed. Still, it keeps its Monday night spot at 10/9c, sticking close behind the original FBI.

Let’s get into the details: premiere date, cast, storylines, and what makes CIA a game-changer for the whole FBI Universe.

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Confirmed premiere date & schedule of the CIA

CBS has made it official: CIA premieres Monday, February 23, 2026, at 10/9c, right after FBI returns from its midseason break.

That’s a change from the original plan to launch in Fall 2025, but the time slot doesn’t budge. Mondays, 10/9c, still right behind the flagship FBI.

Dick Wolf’s FBI franchise has owned a big chunk of CBS’s lineup for years. But now, with FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted both canceled, the FBI world is at a crossroads. CIA is CBS’s big move to keep things fresh and push the franchise forward.

The show started as FBI: CIA, but things changed along the way. Instead of launching inside the FBI as a backdoor pilot, CBS decided to let the CIA stand on its own. It still shares a universe with the FBI, but it has its own voice, its own style, and the creators say that’s on purpose.

This shift opens up more creative space for the CIA. We can expect more espionage, bigger inter-agency clashes, trickier moral decisions, and a wider lens on national security than what you have seen in the FBI so far.

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The cast: Who is leading this high-stakes drama

Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis jumps in as a “fast-talking, rule-breaking” CIA case officer who never quite fits the mold. If you have seen him on Lucifer, you know he has gained that mix of charm, unpredictability, and swagger, exactly what you want from someone who lives to bend the rules when the job calls for it.

Nick Gehlfuss

Nick Gehlfuss takes on Bill Goodman, the straight-laced FBI agent who insists on playing it by the book. In an interview, Gehlfuss laughed about trading in his old role as Will Halstead for Bill’s rigid, methodical style. He called Bill the “wonderful collision” to Ellis’s chaos in an interview with TV Insider.

Natalee Linez

Natalee Linez steps in as Gina Rojas, a sharp CIA analyst who keeps the field team armed with crucial intel. We don’t know a ton about Gina’s backstory yet, but from the sound of it, she is going to be right at the heart of the agency’s biggest investigations.

Michael Michele (Former)

At first, Michael Michele signed on to play the head of the CIA’s New York Station, overseeing the two leads. But she left the show just a few weeks after production started. Right now, it’s still up in the air whether the character will be recast or rewritten.

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What is CIA about?

CIA explores the tension between two agents who couldn't be more different, forced to team up when the country needs them most. Ellis plays a sharp CIA case officer. Gehlfuss is the FBI guy. They both land at the CIA’s New York Station, thrown together whether they like it or not.

Their job sounds simple on paper: hunt down threats inside the U.S.: terrorists, big-time criminals, and more. But nothing is ever that straightforward. These two butt heads constantly, but somehow, their mismatched styles turn out to be exactly what the mission needs.

The show balances a double life. One minute, you are in the middle of a tense spy thriller; the next, you are following the twists of a fresh investigation each week. Underneath it all, there is a bigger story: long-term intelligence plots that keep the stakes high and the audience guessing.

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Behind the scenes: Turbulence & creative shakeups

CIA’s production has been a bit of a rollercoaster. First, they brought in David Hudgins to run the show and help write it, but then swapped him out for Warren Leight, the Law & Order: SVU guy, right in the middle of things. That didn’t last. By November 2025, Leight stepped down, too. Now, Mike Weiss, who is working on the FBI, is in talks to take over, at least according to Collider.

And there is more. Eriq La Salle, who directed the pilot and was supposed to be an executive producer, has left the series as well. Even so, the pilot he directed is still set to kick off the show.

Back in April 2025, CBS skipped the usual backdoor pilot and just gave CIA a straight-to-series order. That’s a big sign the network believes in it, even with all these shakeups behind the scenes.

CIA matters a lot to CBS right now. With FBI: International and Most Wanted both gone, this is the show CBS is really counting on to keep the whole FBI universe going, and maybe even take it somewhere new.

Tom Ellis, who people already love from Lucifer, brings an audience with him, which should help the show pull in more viewers. Sure, mixing intelligence work with law enforcement isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but the CIA’s setup feels different enough to stand out among CBS’s usual crime dramas.

They have slotted it right after the FBI, so it will probably grab a chunk of that audience too. Plus, they have brought in writers like David Chasteen, who actually worked for the CIA, and producers like Dick Wolf, so it’s clear they are aiming for something that has some real tension.