Dick Wolf has been telling stories and setting trends on TV for over 40 years. From “Law & Order” to One Chicago and the “FBI” universe, his work is filled with compelling characters who aren’t afraid to dive head-first into increasing danger and twisty plots that peak at just the right moments. Big drama is always met with even bigger emotional payoffs. Entwined within that already rich narrative is one key tool the creator employs to fuel his shows’ successes — a narrative device that fans just can’t get enough of: the crossover episode.
When “FBI” and “CIA” return to CBS on Monday, October 5 (at 8 and 9 p.m., respectively), both series will explode into action with crossovers. As TVLine exclusively reported in August, John Boyd is taking Agent Stuart Scola over to the “FBI” universe’s latest spin-off, while Necar Zadegan’s Nikki Reynard will bring her “CIA” expertise to 26 Fed. It’s the first, but not the last bit of cross-pollination viewers will see when the shows return for Season 9 (“FBI”) and Season 2 (“CIA”). Crossovers like these may seem like a no-brainer, but these carefully crafted stories take months of preparation and heaps of cast and crew to pull off. And it’s that dedication to the craft that keeps viewers glued year-in and year-out.
According to Mike Weiss, showrunner and executive producer on both shows, crossovers are a tool that allows him and his team to “build out a sturdier universe, brick by brick.”
“There’s an understanding that there’s a shared history,” he tells TVLine. “‘Remember that time we did that thing together? That was crazy. We barely survived!’ The most satisfying part is being able to build out a shared universe that feels more and more real and indestructible to the audience as time progresses.”
How an early Law & Order collaboration set the trend
Building dynamic universes that allow characters to jump into other series is now a recognizable part of broadcast TV’s tool kit. But crossovers did exist before Dick Wolf’s work went on to dominate primetime. (Remember when George Reeves’ Superman visited “I Love Lucy”? Or how about the many times Estelle Getty’s wisecracking granny Sophia Petrillo popped up on “Empty Nest,” “Nurses,” and even “Blossom”?) However, the mega-producer and “FBI” universe co-creator helped the storytelling tactic become a TV mainstay.
Wolf and “Homicide: Life on the Street” showrunner/executive producer Tom Fontana saw ample opportunity in joining forces. They toyed with a cameo-style crossover in a cold open of “Homicide” in 1995, but took the idea even further the following year. The result? A pair of interlocking episodes that saw Richard Belzer’s “Homicide” detective John Munch step inside the “Law & Order” world (Season 6’s “Charm City”). Kyle Secor and Andre Braugher’s characters joined him, with the story continuing and culminating in Baltimore during the subsequent “Homicide” show (Season 4’s “For God and Country”). “Law & Order” stars Benjamin Bratt, Jill Hennessy, and Jerry Orbach also trekked to Baltimore to join in the fun. A spark was ignited, leading to two more crossover events between the series. Eventually, Belzer reprised that same role as a series regular on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
TV producing would never be the same — and now, Wolf does all of this and more in-house with his many “Law & Order” offshoots, One Chicago, and the “FBI” universe.
“CIA” star Nick Gehlfuss (who plays Bill Goodman) knows all about taking his characters on the road… to other sets, that is. Before joining “CIA,” the actor spent eight seasons on “Chicago Med” as Dr. Will Halstead, recurring on both “Chicago Fire” (for 21 episodes) and “Chicago P.D.” (18 episodes). His character’s brother, Jay Halstead (played by Jesse Lee Soffer), was a detective on “P.D.” for 10 seasons.
“[Crossovers] are always a lot of fun because you bring your expertise over to this [other] show,” Gehlfuss says. “As a doctor going over to the fire [department] or the P.D., I would be able to get involved in some of their behavior. So I’m getting behind my detective brother doing things that a doctor would never do just because I got wrapped up in a moment. It’s a lot of fun to fall into those different worlds which really round out the universe in a wonderful way.”
It takes a village (and a lot of planning) to produce the goods
While crossover events are typically ratings gold, properly planning and executing these juggernauts is, in itself, a work of art. The logistics of securing actors’ time and generating story are the most challenging parts of the process, says Mike Weiss. (Scheduling the actual production is also “not for wimps,” he adds.)
It all starts with the story. Heading up both “FBI” and “CIA” grants Weiss sole power and access to decide who will appear where, when, and why. Sometimes the idea for a crossover begins with the mere thought of pairing two like-minded characters together. Other times, guest spots are conceived more organically.
“In our fifth episode of the [‘FBI’] season, we’re chasing bad guys who have a complicated relationship with the U.S. military overseas,” Weiss teases. “When we need information about how they operate and who they are midway through this bank heist story, Jubal calls Nikki, phone a friend, and she comes down and shares her expertise in the [Joint Operations Center] at 26 Fed. So it can come up organically or it can start from the very beginning, with a bigger goal, story-wise.”
While the two series share some similar DNA, the EP acknowledges that they’re “different species.” But it’s those differences that help the writers determine how these crossovers will unfold.
Weiss explains: “We talk about it like there’s a magic door. ‘CIA’ characters are allowed to go through and they can enter the world of the ‘FBI,’ but it’s like a one-way magic door. The ‘CIA’ characters can travel back into the shadows in their CIA world, but ‘FBI’ characters can’t follow them. They kind of go through that door [but] they don’t know where they’ve vanished to. We’ll never see a scene where an ‘FBI’ character shows up in the bullpen at New York Station, because the very location of the CIA’s New York Station is a secret and no one knows where it is, including Jubal, including Isabel. It’s a fun little thing that maybe the audience is picking up on, maybe not, but we know that this invisible door is there.”
With a story idea generated, the writers step up to the plate to hammer out the script. They’re tickled at the chance to write for new-to-them, yet well-established characters from a sister series.
“The writers are so diligent,” Weiss says. “They love the opportunity to write for a character or for an actor that they don’t get to write every single week. For the writers on both shows, it’s incredibly fun to be able to grab an actor and drag them into a different world.”
With scripts in hand, who then takes lead in making sure that scheduling and production runs smoothly from there?
“On some level, God, or maybe Mother Nature,” the showrunner deadpans. “We have amazing production teams on both shows, so you work with the line producers, Amanda Slater, the longtime line producer on ‘FBI,’ and Paul Cabbad, line producer on ‘CIA.’ You share information, and you try to make it work.”
As for the actors, they’re more than game to hop from one show to the other, Weiss says. In fact, the stages for both shows are only three blocks away from each other in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
“The actors get to flex different muscles,” Weiss explains. “The shows have very different looks. The style of filmmaking at ‘FBI,’ everything’s very handheld. It’s very kinetic. The camera’s always moving. And on ‘CIA,’ it’s more like 1970s paranoid thriller, so you’re a little bit more in studio mode while you’re filming. So it’s easy to get the actors excited about doing it. It’s hard to schedule them. The line producers help, but it’s just so cool that this whole shared universe exists.”
Crossovers helped CIA find its footing
Having Dick Wolf’s name attached gave “CIA” cred from the jump, but that didn’t mean the spin-off’s work was done. When it premiered in February 2026, the pressure was on for the show to hold its own and build an audience amidst a very competitive network TV landscape.
“We were really keen to make it slightly different from the other [Wolf shows],” Tom Ellis, who plays Colin Glass, tells TVLine. “We really worked out what the show was and the tone of the show. We enter Season 2 in a much better place. The machine is really up and running now. We know what we’re doing, we know what our strengths are, and we know what we want to avoid doing, and all of those things you’re able to distill to make an even better, slicker product.”
Helping the “CIA” team achieve that polish last season was a trio of guest stars that included “FBI” staples Missy Peregrym (Maggie Bell), Alana de la Garza (Isobel Castille), and Jeremy Sisto (Jubal Valentine), the latter of whom appeared in six (out of 12) episodes.
“This is our version of ‘The Avengers,'” Ellis says. “[‘FBI’] has such an established audience, and talking about how excited their audience is going to be [to see these characters] in this new world gets us excited. Yes, we’re starting a new show and we want people to like it, but knowing that there’s this affiliate out there that’s got a deep affection for it, and that we might be able to have some of that affection come our way, it really sort of galvanizes us. It establishes the validity of this ‘CIA’ world.”
Nick Gehlfuss praises “FBI” as “a well-oiled machine,” and says having Sisto’s assist during the freshman year of “CIA” proved invaluable: “It’s nice to get that support from an established show that’s helping us find our legs, and that’s what Jeremy helped us do in the first season.”
Adds Ellis: “He knows his character so well. He’s so established that he just lives and breathes the character. Watching him deal with things in the script that maybe didn’t feel quite right or needed a bit of massaging, [and] watching him go through that process was really helpful for me and Nick. And we were able to then apply that to what we were doing moving forward.”
He also gives props to Weiss for being “a generous showrunner,” who recognizes “that the script is very much a starting point, it’s not the gospel. The more we live in our characters’ shoes, the more we’re able to bring that knowledge to the equation and help make the show better. Jeremy’s just so good at doing that and he does it with such good grace and humor.”
As for John Boyd, his crossover experience didn’t start with his upcoming “CIA” appearance. Back in Season 5 of “FBI,” he took part in a huge three-part crossover that included the now-defunct “FBI: International” and “FBI: Most Wanted,” an experience he calls “one of the pieces of television that I’m most proud of.”
“We work unbelievably hard,” Boyd says. “We all know how to work like that and when you go over to another show, you’re ready. You just bring your best self, your preparation, your A-game, and the energy, because we all know how much work it takes to do it.”
What else is on tap for FBI and CIA this season?
When “CIA” returns, Stuart Scola will be spending some quality time with his old pal Bill Goodman, who’s in dire need of a good friend. Bill’s in the throes of something fierce. Not only has his father passed away between seasons, but a shocking discovery is about to upend everything he thought he knew about his life.
“We feel like there’s so much that these actors can do, and there’s so much to explore and investigate as we get deeper into who these characters are, and that’s what we’re most excited about,” Mike Weiss says. “We’re definitely going to challenge Bill Goodman this season. We’re going to see him confront a past that he couldn’t possibly have predicted.”
And Scola isn’t just hanging around for emotional support. The two agents wind up wearing vests together, entering a DEA target house in the season opener. Adds Weiss: “Bill and Scola go in shoulder-to-shoulder to this dangerous target, so we get to see Scola in bro-mode as well as in tactical mode.”
John Boyd’s “CIA” appearance marks his first time on the spin-off, and the actor says the transition to the other set “could not have been more seamless.” At a dinner in New York City with Dick Wolf, Boyd met Gehlfuss along with the episode’s director, Ken Girotti, and the three quickly began brainstorming.
“Nick was such a lovely guy from the jump, just totally about making it as good as we possibly could, and making it believable that these two had a relationship,” says Boyd. “It’s so great when you get to cross over in this way because it’s the same family. There’s no ego. It’s just about showing up and getting to help.”
Weiss is also looking forward to further developing the relationship between the two leads, Colin and Bill. And on the “FBI” side of things, there’s potential for Anna Vorp to find her way to the spin-off.
While there are no current plans for Gehlfuss or Ellis to show up on “FBI,” both actors are more than ready for the challenge, if and when duty calls. Even mentioning the possibility reminds Ellis of his appearance in a “Flash” episode that was part of the Arrowverse’s massive “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event. He calls that “one of the most surreal days of my life,” one that started on a set in Los Angeles, and ended on a different set in Vancouver, all in the same day.
“Dick Wolf says that crossovers are crack for fans,” Gehlfuss says, “and that’s really the feedback I always got was [that] it’s their favorite part of watching these shows. You’re not just part of one job when you enter the Wolf universe. You’re part of many and you get to work with wonderful artists all around. This is a real treat, and being in New York City is the cherry on top.”
