CBS is bringing together 'FBI,' 'FBI: International' and 'FBI: Most Wanted' for a special three-hour TV event.
For the second time ever, all three FBI series are teaming up for a crossover event, "Imminent Threat," uniting the characters and storylines of FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. On Tuesday, the three units will have to come together when the abduction of a U.S. citizen in Rome reveals an international plot for a massive terror attack in New York City.
"It's a huge episode. It's really exciting," Jeremy Sisto, who plays Jubal Valentine, says in between takes on the set of FBI: International. And only ET was able to go behind the scenes with the cast, including Dylan McDermott (Remy Scott), Missy Peregrym (Maggie Bell) and Zeeko Zaki (Omar Adom Zidan), as all the action went down on the CBS crime procedurals.
"We're here in Rome. And what a better way to start," Luke Kleintank (Scott Forrester) says of the three-hour event, which kicks off with the Fly Team learning of an abduction on FBI: International as two members of the FBI's New York field office, Jubal and Nina (Shantel VanSanten), arrive in Italy to help with the manhunt.
"We are looking at an international terrorist situation that starts overseas," Zaki explains, with Sisto revealing that one of their agents is undercover when they realize there is a "person trying to buy a lot of C4 explosives [and that] they're gonna make a bomb."
As things continue to unfold during the second hour on FBI, Maggie calls upon Remy, when they realize his well-connected informant may be the key to moving the investigation forward. "Remy has some great undercover experience, so we're brought in as the Most Wanted [team] to kind of step in and help," teases Roxy Sternberg (Sheryll Barnes).
However, "we're very different teams. We have different ways of working," Peregrym says, teasing the potential butting of heads that may come along with uniting all three forces.
That said, "New York is in jeopardy," McDermott says of the final hour, which concludes with FBI: Most Wanted, as the Fugitive Task Force and the New York-based field team up to hunt down the fugitive terrorists believed to be behind the imminent threat facing Manhattan. And no matter what, "we all need to come and save New York in a huge way," he adds.
While what unfolds onscreen will surely wow fans of all three FBI series, the cast reveals it was no easy feat to pull together, especially considering the episodes were filmed on location all around the world, including Budapest, Hungary and other European cities as well as parts of New York City.
Not only that, but this global crossover marks the first for recent franchise newcomers McDermott, who joined Most Wanted last spring, as well as Edwin Hodge and Eva-Jane Willis, the two newest members of Most Wanted and International, respectively.
"I don't think people realize how hard it is to actually get three productions, to work together and to find the time to be able to get everybody together from other episodes that they're doing," Peregrym says. "And so, when we can pull this off, it's like the greatest feat of all time."
And for Peregrym, who returned to the franchise this past November after giving birth to her second child, it feels good to be back in action. "I gotta tell you, it's so nice to tackle and to get back into my body without having a baby in it," she admits.
The crossover, meanwhile, marks a different kind of opportunity for McDermott. "I get to speak Russian in this episode," the actor reveals. "I get to finally show off my Russian; I've been dying to for years."
Even though this is only the second global crossover, there's no competition among the different ensembles, even if this is the first time some of the cast members have worked together. "We have a connection. It's like a cousin that you haven't met," Sisto says.
If nothing else, it gives all of them a chance to "at least understand a little bit of what everyone's going through," Zaki says, with John Boyd (Stuart Scola) adding, "The second that anyone from any show gets here, we want them to feel welcome and we want them to see that we're capable... But we also love comparing stories and understanding how they do it and how they learn."
Boyd says, "It's a great vibe. Everyone's really open and neat and it's really cool to collaborate with them."
And at the end of the day, the crossover just shows how massive the franchise has become -- and even lets all the actors appreciate the larger world they're all part of as cast members of the three series, which first started with FBI in 2018 before expanding to Most Wanted in 2019 and International in 2021.
"It shows how big of a world we have built over the past five years, you know," Zaki says, explaining that "when we're filming just our show, it's this very intimate sort of thing… But the second all three shows come together, it is an international, mega house and it's so cool to kinda see it flow and how it all works together."
The FBI global crossover kicks off with FBI: International at 8 p.m. ET/PT followed by FBI at 9 p.m. ET/PT before ending with FBI: Most Wanted at 10 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on CBS.
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