‘FBI’ Kills off Major Character in Season 8 Premiere

FBI Season 8 premiered on CBS on Monday, and it included a major, surprising death.

The CBS procedural’s seventh season ended on a cliffhanger that saw Alana De La Garza’s Isobel collapsing and having no pulse after an explosion.

However, despite keeping fans on their toes all summer, the premiere episode, “Takeover,” eventually revealed that Isobel is not dead and is in the hospital, recovering, and she’s awake and talking. Unfortunately, the episode was not without tragedy. While trying to get to Maggie and OA on an island where those in charge don’t recognize law enforcement’s authority, Scola and Dani come under fire, and during a shootout, Dani is hit, but she believes her vest caught it.

Just as they catch up to Maggie and OA, Dani collapses, and it’s discovered that she, in fact, was shot and died from her injuries. While fans knew that Emily Alabi would be departing the series after only just arriving last season, the way that they wrote off Dani Rhodes was certainly surprising. While speaking to PopCulture.com ahead of the premiere, Missy Peregrym shared that there is “a really great turn at the end of the first episode,” while Zeeko Zaki said it’s “life or death.” And they weren’t wrong.

Meanwhile, showrunner Mike Weiss told TV Insider that Dani’s death “is a reminder of the grave stakes that [the agents] face day in and day out — trying to protect people in a world that is changing fast, with new threats always lurking around the corner.”

As for John Boyd’s Scola, who has already gone through numerous partners and was getting closer to Dani, “Losing a partner is always a tough thing,” Weiss said. “And Scola is going to be feeling the loss of Dani for a while. But Scola joined the FBI after the loss of his brother. He’s a character who finds ways to grow and honor everyone he’s lost in his daily life as an agent. It’s what makes him an extraordinary asset to the team.”

“Of course, Dani’s death will weigh on Maggie and OA as well,” he continued. “She was just falling in with our team when the worst happened. Our FBI agents are tough, but their real strength is finding each other in these moments of hardship. Maggie, OA, and Scola are all going to be closer after the events of [Episode] 801.”

It’s going to be hard to see how Scola moves forward and how the rest of the team moves forward, but at the very least, he may not be without a partner for long. Law & Order: SVU star Juliana Aidén Martinez will be joining the series very soon. Tune in to new episodes of FBI on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.