'FBI True': Executive Producer Craig Turk on Paramount+ Show's Origin (Exclusive)
The docuseries was in the making for five years.
Paramount+ docuseries FBI True premiered in February and already has three seasons under its belt, but why did the show take so long to come to fruition? The scripted FBI series first premiered on CBS in 2018 and has spawned a franchise with two successful spinoffs. Now, five years later, a series depicting actual FBI agents has finally happened. However, the idea for the series actually has been ongoing since 2018, according to FBI co-creator and FBI: True executive producer Craig Turk.
Turk exclusively tells PopCulture.com that he "was in New York researching the scripted show FBI, which is where I met Anne [Beagan]. And she was just absolutely invaluable in terms of introducing me to the FBI and agents and making possible just a huge amount of research that I did to create the scripted show. And I would spend all day at 26 Fed or sometimes at the JTTF, at the Joint Terrorism Task Force downtown, talking to these agents and filling up these little notebooks."
"And one day, I was meeting a friend for a drink after work, and there's a bar downstairs from the JTTF in Chelsea, I guess where it used to be in Chelsea, called the Brass Monkey," Turk continued. "And so I went downstairs to wait for this friend, and I saw a couple of agents at the bar who Anne had introduced me to. And I sat down next to them, and I was just listening to them talk." Turk went on to say how fascinating it was to hear about the cases and in public, rather than just watching it on the news, so he and EP and former FBI agent Anne Beagan tried to figure out "a way to capture that."
"I think it's been gestating in our minds for a really long time that if we can just put agents together, which is very much how it is, it's agents talking to agents in a really relaxed environment where they would typically tell stories, and just kind of let them go and let them open up, we figured we're going to get something great that way," Turk concluded. "And it's exceeded even our greatest expectations."
Even though it took a while to get the show off the ground, the series has been doing exceptionally well. It's currently airing on CBS' strike-proof fall 2023 schedule and is even paired with the scripted FBI. The wait for FBI True was definitely worth it, and now more agents are able to recall their stories and bring to light some cases people may not even know about. Not to mention the fact that viewers get to learn about just what goes on as an FBI agent and hearing stories firsthand. All three seasons of FBI True are streaming on Paramount+, with episodes airing on CBS on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.