‘FBI’ and ‘CIA’ Boss Mike Weiss Weighs in on Working on Both Shows at the Same Time (Exclusive)

As the FBI universe prepares to expand with CIA, executive producer Mike Weiss spoke to PopCulture.com about how he’s balancing the two shows.

Weiss serves as showrunner and EP on the Mothership, and as of last fall, has also been brought on to assume those duties for CIA.

The newest spinoff has already gone through more than one showrunner change. When the series was first ordered, FBI: Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins was set to helm the spinoff, but he departed over the summer, with Law & Order: SVU’s Warren Leight stepping in. Leight ultimately left in November, and it was reported that Weiss was in talks to take over while still continuing his duties on FBI.

Ahead of CIA’s premiere on Monday, Feb. 23, Weiss told PopCulture that while he’s only been working on the spinoff for a couple of months, “it’s just been the most fun, exciting months of my career.” And even though he’s working on two shows at the same time, he’s giving all the credit to the teams on FBI and CIA for helping out.

“There are fantastic teams in place at both places,” he continued. “I mean, television, all of film entertainment is a team sport. I mean, it’s Herculean, the amount of work that goes into making 22 episodes a year. And so, the only way to do it is just rely on a really great team, and that’s been incredibly gratifying and rewarding. Hopefully, the teams that I work with on both shows would agree.”

As for his favorite part about working on CIA as opposed to FBI, Weiss said it’s “being able to do sneaky trickster things to get to the truth. It’s being able to do some scenes that are maybe a little bit sexier, being able to lean into shadowy characters whose motivations are not 100% clear.”

“It’s the kind of storytelling that I love,” he continued. “FBI is a very muscular action-driven show, and CIA, there’s gonna be action in every episode, but I think it’s gonna be… I wish I knew more about human anatomy. They’re different muscles that were flexing, more trapezius. I don’t know which muscles they’re gonna get used for, but they will be.”

One would think working on two shows, as the showrunner and executive producer on both, no less, would be difficult, but it sounds like Weiss is enjoying it as much as ever. Of course, it helps that he has great teams on FBI and CIA, but it just proves that he was the right man for the job. As the seasons continue, it’s possible things will get more difficult, especially when CIA truly starts to get off the ground, but for now, he doesn’t seem to mind.

FBI’s midseason premiere airs on Monday, Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, followed by the series premiere of CIA. Both will be streaming on Paramount+ the following day.