‘FBI: Most Wanted’ Boss David Hudgins Breaks Down Season 5 Premiere; Teases Wedding Bells May Ring
SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from tonight’s Season 5 premiere of CBS’ FBI: Most Wanted.
FBI: Most Wanted made its big Season 5 debut tonight with the action-packed episode titled “Above & Beyond” featuring the newest member of the Fugitive Task Force: Shantel VanSanten as Special Agent Nina Chase. As Deadline exclusively revealed in November, VanSanten joined the CBS spinoff following a recurring role in the mothership series FBI reprising the original character.
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Out of the gate, Nina proved that moms can be and do anything they want including badass agents. It is revealed early on that not only has Nina left maternity leave early to get back into action, but she doesn’t miss a beat working alongside Remy (Dylan McDermott), Hanna (Keisha Castle-Hughes), Ray (Edwin Hodge) and Sheryll (Roxy Sternberg).
It’s worth noting that Nina does tip her hat to her wonderful partner with whom she shares her life and child-raising duties: Stuart Scola (John Boyd), who, although a mainstay in FBI, will appear in Most Wanted as the series shares an inside look at their home life.
Beyond the Nina Chase of it all, viewers also reconnect with Remy following that emotional Season 4 finale. As a reminder, Remy further investigated the murder of his brother which led him down a rabbit hole ending with the reveal that he has a grown-up nephew, Corey (J.D. Martin).
As seen in the S5 premiere, Remy continues to struggle with this new reality—figuring out his new role as an uncle and that an innocent man just died after he was falsely imprisoned for murder. He seeks out the help of a therapist, proving that badass men shouldn’t be afraid to prioritize their mental health.
In addition to our scoop that Scola will appear in FBI: Most Wanted, showrunner David Hudgins answers questions about the premiere and reveals what fans can expect to see as the season continues.
DEADLINE: Nina Chase made her debut as a series regular in the premiere and boy did she jump off the screen. It looks like she impressed her new team, too. What’s it been like having her on the show?
DAVID HUDGINS: She’s great, isn’t she? What was so great about that is, she already knew the team from the crossover from last year. Remy says it. He’s like, “You know, it makes perfect sense.” So when we brought her in, we didn’t have to do any heavy lifting. She just comes in and hits the ground running. Even in real life, Shantel’s this way, always with great energy and tells it like it is. Plus, we’re playing her character as a bit of a tomboy. I think maybe that’s kind of an antiquated phrase, but she’s just a badass. She’s a badass driver with all these mechanical skills and then she’s a mom. I think she’s a great addition to the team.
DEADLINE: The premiere delves into Nina’s home life with Scola after welcoming their son. Is that something you’ll explore?
HUDGINS: You’re gonna get a little peek at that later in the season. That’s one of the reasons I was excited for that character [to join] because there’s an opportunity to do these little mini crossovers. So we’ll go home and see what’s going on in that house with her, Scola and the baby.
DEADLINE: Watching a character who is a new mom with so many responsibilities not be portrayed like she’s at a disadvantage is refreshing. Was that intentional?
HUDGINS: Yes, it was very intentional. That’s what we wanted to do, have her come right into the team. She’s she’s got things sorted at home and Scola is a great dad. They’ve got a nanny there too as they’re two busy working people. People have babies and they don’t have to pick one thing or the other. She’s a great mom too; she does everything at 110%. When we go into that story, we’ll get a little glimpse into that. But for these first round of episodes, it’s just blending her rinto the team.
DEADLINE: There was some tension between Remy and Nina in the premiere, will this continue?
HUDGINS: They’re gonna find a more solid ground. Nina is sometimes brutally honest in a refreshing way and sometimes she doesn’t have a filter. So when Remy is like, what did you hear? She tells him and I think he appreciates that. You need to have honesty if you’re going to be working with somebody, especially carrying a gun and chasing bad guys. They’re gonna get to a great place in their relationship; that’s just sort of an initial little hint of her character. She’s not shy.
DEADLINE: It’s so important that the writers are showing that tough guys like Remy Scott sometimes need support from a mental health professional. This is something that is still pretty taboo today. Will we see more?
HUDGINS: That was the idea. Honestly, I would be one of those guys who would say, Oh, it’s an admission of failure if you have to go talk to somebody. I think a little bit of that is probably baked into Remi’s character. So the fact that he’s doing it I think is huge in the first place. And you’re right. He’s still unpacking a lot related to his brother. I think he even says in the episode, he’s not going to make the same mistake twice.
He wants to get to know this nephew that he never had. And can you imagine what it’s like for the nephew? Having somebody showing up at your office after 25 years saying they’re your uncle. That’s going to be a big arc this season. You get to see Remy trying to be a parent of an adult child, and they’re gonna have some rough times and then some good times. He doesn’t want this kid to carry hate in his heart. He’s also thinking about this guy who went to jail and died for a crime he didn’t commit and all that guilt he’s trying to unpack so yes, very complicated. I liked the idea that he’s going to see Dr. Fairweather, who you’ll see more of this season.
DEADLINE: With all of this going on, is it safe to assume there are no plans for a love interest for Remy?
HUDGINS: We are planning for in the latter part of the season for Remy to have a love interest come into his life. The first part of the season is going to be getting squared away with his nephew and trying to figure out if it’s tough love needs or if he should be supportive. Spoiler Alert: the kid ends up being kicked out of his apartment and moves in with Remy for a while and they’ll have this Odd Couple thing going on. So we’ll see Remy being a dad this season.
DEADLINE: What else can we look forward to?
HUDGINS: We’ve got some amazing cases. We’re shooting in a coal mine right now— a real coal mine. It’s such a great episode. Some kids get kidnapped and trapped in a coal mine and the team has to rescue them. We’ve got a really creepy serial killer episode coming up and an AI episode. We’ve got an episode timed to March Madness about a basketball player where we take on his name, image and likeness. Ray is going to take his relationship to a new level with Cora (Caroline Harris).
DEADLINE: Is there an engagement brewing?
HUDGINS: Stay tuned.
Oh, Hana has a fun story coming up. She meets a baby agent fresh out of Quantico who wants to be just like her whom we call, Mini Hana. They hang out and it’s a great story. She’s gonna bring Hana out of her shell in her personal life because she likes to stay home and be by herself.
Barnes (Sternberg) has a really emotional heart-wrenching arc this year. We’re going to test her marriage was Charlotte so there’s a lot of great stuff for Roxy to play.
This story has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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