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FBI: International co-creator Derek Haas said he was “sad to hear” about the show’s cancellation
The show, a spinoff of the flagship FBI series, was cancelled by CBS in March and ended its four-season run in May
FBI: Most Wanted, another spinoff, was also cancelled by the network after six seasons — with the flagship series renewed and getting another spinoff, CIA, this fall
FBI: International co-creator Derek Haas is opening up about the show’s cancellation after four seasons.
Haas told TVLine that he was “sad to hear” about the decision to cancel the CBS series earlier this year and admitted he’s not exactly sure why it happened.
Haas, who previously co-created Chicago Fire at NBC and created the forthcoming Countdown series for Prime Video, went on to say he “loved” what Jesse Lee Soffer brought to the show and that he was “a dynamic cast addition in season 4.”
Soffer, an alum of As the World Turns and, most recently, the Chicago franchise, joined season 4 as Wesley “Wes” Mitchell after the departure of The Man in the High Castle alum Luke Kleintank as Scott Forrester.
Nelly Kiss/CBS via Getty
(L) Jay Hayden and (R) Jesse Lee Soffer on ‘FBI: International’
Haas also praised Soffer’s onscreen dynamic with Station 19 alum Jay Hayden, who played Tyler Booth, by saying “they were gold together.”
Haas said he had “no insight” into FBI: International‘s cancellation.
Hass gave a shout-out to Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, and Eric Kim, who oversees current primetime and daytime programming at CBS, as well as Dick Wolf’s production company, Wolf Entertainment, saying he “trust[s] their instincts.”
“So they must’ve had reasons [to cancel the show] that had nothing to do with the quality of the show,” he added.
His comments echo what Reisenbach said in May when answering why FBI: International and another FBI spinoff, FBI: Most Wanted, were cancelled, chalking the decision up to the network having “to be fiscally responsible.”
“Ultimately those deals and the shows just weren’t penciling out for us for an economic perspective. It’s never easy to end shows, and we had a lot of options this year,” Reisenbach said at the time. “We always have to look at all of our shows, look at the aggregate information. The creative, where they are in their life cycle, what the finances look like, what the ratings are — and we make those tough decisions.”
PEOPLE confirmed in March that CBS had cancelled two FBI spinoffs, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International.
FBI: Most Wanted ended its six-season run in May, the same day FBI: International concluded its four-season run.
Nelly Kiss/CBS via Getty
Jesse Lee Soffer on ‘FBI: International’
Most Wanted was created by René Balcer while Haas and Wolf co-created International.
Both are spinoffs of the flagship FBI series, which was co-created by Wolf and Craig Turk in 2018. It has been renewed through the 2026-2027 broadcast season.
CIA, a new spinoff in the FBI universe, is set to debut this fall, starring Lucifer alum Tom Ellis.
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The FBI franchise is streaming on Paramount+.
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