Warning: spoilers are ahead for the series premiere of CIA on CBS, available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
The long-awaited premiere of CIA finally arrived in the 2026 TV schedule as a treat for fans who have been craving more action on Monday nights. The first episode quickly established that CIA exists in the same world as Jeremy Sisto's Jubal Valentine and Co. from FBI, but the dynamic between Nick Gehlfuss' Special Agent Bill Goodman and Tom Ellis' CIA Agent Colin Glass proved that the new show isn't just FBI 2.0. That said, Gehlfuss opened up to CinemaBlend about how he and his new co-lead made the same painful mistake early on.
The premiere wasted no time in proving just how mismatched the two main characters are from their respective agencies, after the trailer hyped that an odd couple dynamic was on the way for the strait-laced FBI agent (Gehlfuss) and the more roguish CIA agent played (Ellis). They did more or less meet in the middle by the end of the series premiere, after an action sequence that was quite different from anything Gehlfuss ever did on Chicago Med.
When I spoke with Gehlfuss about why CIA being paired with FBI is "perfect" on CBS Monday nights, I also had to ask: did he have to prepare for all the running he'd be doing as Bill Goodman? In response, he revealed an unexpected issue in his first chase as a fictional FBI agent:
Well, let me share with you what has become quite a little story I've been sharing. I wanted action so much outside of the last project. There's a little bit in the hospital [on Chicago Med], but I was ready to run. And on my first day of running, I jumped out of a van, started running with my gun out and screaming, 'FBI!' Then they yelled cut, and I didn't really stop screaming to a certain degree.
Considering that I'd last spoken to Gehlfuss for his Chicago Med return, it's easy to understand why CIA was a very different experience from the jump. While he'd shared that he was "on cloud nine" while filming the new show, the pain following his leap out of the van probably doesn't rank as his favorite memory from the early days. He elaborated:
I didn't really scream. It's a little more dramatic than that, but I pulled my quad. I go, 'Wow, I didn't even stretch. What a silly mistake. I grew up playing sports. I know better than that.' And I go over to Tom and I tell him what I had done, and then he goes, 'You won't believe it. I just did the same thing.' [laughs] We never make that mistake anymore, let's just say that.
Nick Gehlfuss did many things on Chicago Med, but he likely didn't have to do a lot of stretching before getting to work on that show compared to CIA! While it's too bad that the two stars of the FBI spinoff were in pain from the first day of running, it's also a pretty cute story that had Gehlfuss laughing at the memory.
And it's not like he started out as Bill Goodman without any training to play an FBI agent. In fact, it turns out that Nick Gehlfuss' training and workout routine to play Bill might just have him physicially capable of becoming a real-life agent. He shared:
I actually had never shot a gun before, so I went and learned how to do that properly. Safety weapon courses and all of that. Tactical training I did just to learn how to clear rooms and stairwells, and learn how to disarm various types of weapons. And then I adopted the workout…. What's required for an FBI agent is you have to hit a certain amount of push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and running. I've just been trying to do a little bit of all of that as much as I can, so I'd like to think I can actually become an FBI agent and the minimum requirements for all of those.
It seems like a safe bet that he'll need to use every bit of that training as CIA continues on CBS. The series premiere ended with Bill getting the unwelcome news that he was being permanently assigned to work with Colin and the rest of the CIA unit. He did seem more invested once Jubal revealed his real purpose in the joint gig: root out a suspected mole within the CIA's NYC office. Check out the promo for the next episode for a new look at Bill working with Colin:
Tune in to CBS on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET for new episodes of CIA, following the latest from FBI's eighth season. You can also latest episodes of both via Paramount+. Jeremy Sisto's appearance as a guest star in the series premiere firmly established that CIA and FBI are in the same world, but it remains to be seen how (and if) the two shows will take advantage of any crossover possibilities moving forward.
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