‘FBI’: Major Star Going on Hiatus From Show

One of FBI‘s biggest stars is saying goodbye to the show, at least for the time being. Series lead Miss Peregrym is going on hiatus from the popular CBS crime drama as she awaits the arrival of her second child with husband Tom Oakley. After announcing in February that she was pregnant, Peregrym marked her final FBI Season 4 appearance as Special Agent Maggie Bell during Tuesday night’s newest episode.

During the episode, Maggie and OA worked to track down a man who is using deadly sarin gas. However, things took a dangerous turn when Maggie got trapped in a room where the gas was released. Before OA had the chance to break into the room, though Maggie passed out. The episode ended with both Maggie and OA in the hospital, where Maggie remained unconscious. Ahead of the episode, Peregrym told fans on Instagram, “tonight is my last episode of the season… I’m off for maternity leave now…” Showrunner Rick Eid later confirmed the hiatus.

“Basically, I told her, ‘Tell us what you want what you need, and we’ll do our best to accommodate it.’ She was feeling great and wanting to work for as long as she could,” Eid told Variety. “We had a general idea when she was going to leave, and so there was just a question of finding the right episode to pair with that and the right plot to pair with that. I think the sarin gas idea seemed to be a exciting, thrilling way to send her off.”

In giving her character a temporary sendoff, Eid said, “we just wanted to find a way to credibly send her off within the imaginary worlds we’re living in, and make it so that she can come back when she’s physically ready to come back.” In the meantime, during Peregrym’s hiatus from the show, Eid teased that “there will be a new character coming in. We’re gonna leave it as a surprise for now. But there’s a new character coming in that we’re excited about.” Eid added that the upcoming April 26 episode will show the “aftermath” of what happened to Maggie and OA. Calling it a “powerful episode,” Eid shared that it is “about OA and his past as someone who was in the military and saw a lot of things. In some ways, it’s exploring the idea of PTSD or the emotional stress he’s under both from the past and more recently.”

New episodes of FBI air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Peregrym is expected to return for Season 5 should CBS hand the show a renewal. The actress, currently pregnant with her second child, is also mom to 2-year-old son Otis, whom she and Oakley welcomed in March 2020.