Why You Won’t Be Seeing ‘FBI’ Crossovers Like One Chicago

FBI and Most Wanted launched the newest series in the franchise, International, with a three-show crossover. But don’t expect to see that again anytime soon, or even for smaller crossovers like in one of Dick Wolf’s other hit franchises, One Chicago.

“I can’t imagine us doing another one this year. It was so much more work than when we do the Chicago ones. Just even having the bad guy go all the way through the three episodes, get him to Hungary. You’ve got jet lag issues. You’ve got working hours issues,” International showrunner Derek Haas tells TV Insider. “It was way harder than even the hardest Chicago crossover that we’ve done.”

In fact, it’s difficult as well when FBI‘s Assist. Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) and Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille (Alana De La Garza) video-chat from the New York office. “In Chicago, when we do one of those things, we just have the director walk next door and shoot whatever we need to shoot and then come back. Those sets are a hundred yards apart. But here, we have to have the director fly to New York to shoot any Jubal and Isobel scenes, and sometimes we just don’t have time,” the showrunner explains.

“So we love them. We want to use them as much as we can. We like the idea that they know each other,” he continues. “But the first three episodes we were like, ‘Let’s do it!’ and then we’ve gotten to be a little bit more cautious as we pick the right episodes.”

That being said, he is hoping to capitalize on the history between Jubal and the Fly Team’s leader Special Agent Scott Forrester (Luke Kleintank). “If I had to go to war and could only pick two agents to go shoulder-to-shoulder with, he’d be one of them,” Jubal said in the premiere. “I’m going to pitch and try to have a Jubal makes his way to Hungary episode,” Haas says.

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It is, once again, about logistics. For example, it was difficult to have Zeeko Zaki (who plays Special Agent Omar Adom ‘OA’ Zidan on FBI) fly back and forth from New York for his appearance in the International premiere, in which he butted heads with Forrester. “The two actors knew each other before. They had done a project together [2015’s Max]. So they just had an instant competitiveness, but also chemistry,” Haas says.

FBI: International, Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS