FBI’s newest offshoot is continuing on a rocky path.
On the heels of Michael Michele’s exit, Deadline reports that Eriq La Salle has departed as an executive producer.
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The ER star had been attached to CIA for a while to direct and executive produce the first episode. Filming started in September, and La Salle did direct the pilot as planned. He recently signed a two-book deal with Penguin Random House’s Sourcebooks for the next two books in his thriller series Martyr Maker. His exit from CIA will allow him to focus more on writing. This is the latest departure for the new series in the FBI franchise, which was ordered to series in April.
CIA was initially planned to kick off with a backdoor pilot during FBI’s seventh season, but issues with casting led the episode to keep getting pushed back until it was too late with production coming to a close. The show was still in contention for the 2025-26 season despite no backdoor pilot, and the network canceling FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. It was announced in April that Lucifer star Tom Ellis would be leading the show, following a rule-breaking, loose-cannon CIA case officer and a by-the-book, seasoned, and smart FBI agent who believes in the rule of law, who are assigned to work together out of the CIA’s New York Station.
Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins was set to spearhead the new series and executive produce, but he departed over the summer. Law & Order: SVU’s Warren Leight took over showrunner duties, and CBS pushed the series to midseason after it was supposed to premiere in the fall so CIA could acclimate to a new showrunner. Michele and Nick Gehlfuss were tapped to join Ellis as leads in September, along with Natalee Linez. Despite Michele and La Salle departing, filming will not be impacted, and CIA is on track for its midseason premiere.
La Salle has a long relationship with Wolf Entertainment, which produces CIA alongside CBS Studios and Universal Television. The actor directed multiple episodes of SVU, Chicago Med, Chicago Justice, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Law & Order, FBI, and On Call. He also served as executive producer on Chicago P.D. from 2016 to 2021 and executive produced the short-lived Prime procedural On Call, in which he also recurred.
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