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CBS renews ‘CIA’ after ‘FBI’ spin-off show premieres to strong viewership

The police procedural series centers on the partnership between the FBI agent Bill Goodman and the CIA operative Colin Glass.

The Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss-starrer 'CIA' has been renewed for Season 2. The news comes exactly a month after the police procedural drama premiered on CBS on February 23. The series faced several delays before its premiere, but has delivered a solid performance in its first four episodes, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. 'CIA' is the fourth series in the 'FBI' franchise, following 'FBI,' 'FBI: Most Wanted,' and 'FBI: International.' It is developed by David Chasteen and Nicole Perlman, with Mike Weiss serving as its showrunner. The early renewal announcement is similar to that of the 'Yellowstone' spin-off series 'Marshals,' which was renewed within two weeks of its premiere in March. 

The first two episodes of 'CIA' earned 3.78 million and 3.59 million same-day views, respectively. Over the next seven days, viewership numbers doubled, with the premiere garnering 8.4 million viewers and the second episode earning 7.6 million views (including streaming and delayed viewing). Furthermore, the first three episodes of the crime drama series have seen a 39% jump in viewership from last fall. Popculture reports that for its time slot, 'CIA' ranks higher than 'The Rookie' on ABC and 'The Voice' on NBC.     

'CIA' centers on the unlikely partnership between the CIA case officer Colin Glass (Ellis) and the FBI special agent William 'Bill' Randall Goodman (Gehlfuss), who bring vastly different approaches to the job when they team up for a secretive CIA/FBI task force. Glass has little regard for the law, while Bill is a strictly by-the-book kind of agent. However, their shared purpose brings them together - to keep Americans safe from domestic and foreign threats. As Bill gets drawn into the murky world of the CIA, dominated by spy games, the duo encounters covert operations, including dangerous international plots, terrorist cells, and integral geopolitical secrets.

In addition to Ellis and Gehlfuss, Natalee Linez plays the CIA analyst, Gina Gosian, and Necar Zadegan plays the deputy chief of the CIA’s New York branch, Nikki Reynard, in ‘CIA.’ The show also features crossover actors from the ‘FBI’ franchise, like Jeremy Sisto as Jubal Valentine, James Chen as Ian Lim, Missy Peregrym as Maggie Bell, and Alana de la Garza as Isobel Castille. 'CIA' is produced by Universal Television in association with Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment and CBS Studios. Besides the renewal, CBS has not announced plot details, episode count, release window, or cast updates for the show's sophomore season yet. Until then, viewers can catch the remaining episodes of 'CIA' on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS or stream the next day on Paramount+.