Shantel VanSanten Discusses Transition From 'FBI' to 'FBI: Most Wanted' (Exclusive)

There have been some casting changes across the FBI franchise, including Shantel VanSanten. The actress has been recurring as Special Agent Nina Chase on FBI for Seasons 4 and 5, initially just as a temporary replacement for Missy Peregrym, who was on maternity leave. Then she grew into something much more, and Nina even had a relationship, later baby, with John Boyd's Stuart Scola.

Now, VanSanten has made the move to spinoff FBI: Most Wanted as a series regular for the upcoming fifth season. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, VanSanten shared how the transition has been and what to expect from Nina as she joins the Fugitive Task Force.

PopCulture: What has the transition been like going from FBI to Most Wanted?

Shantel VanSanten: Everybody told me, "It's a very different show, OK?" I didn't believe them. I thought, "Guys, we're just solving crimes. I'm playing the same character. What are you are talking about?" I'm here to report it is a very different show. I should have believed everybody that told me. No, it's crazy how rewarding the job feels even though I'm not actually doing the job and I'm not actually solving crimes. But the intensity of the crimes and the intensity of the shoots and where we shoot is very different than FBI, and also being a part of a Fugitive Task Force.

I don't think, even with all my research, I really understood until I was thrown into the field and what skill sets it would require and what skills Nina had that I don't have that I had to learn on the spot. But it's been challenging and really, really rewarding, but also weirdly effortless. I really expected to feel as though I was floundering more, and especially having such a big gap because all of our strike stuff, I was worried I wasn't going to remember Nina. I wasn't going to remember how to hold a gun. The minute I put my same boots on that I wore for 15 episodes before and my holster and my badge, I felt like I was back, and whatever the job required me to be able to do, I would step up.

PC: What were your thoughts when you first found out about the switch?

VanSanten: I don't know if I necessarily believed it. The timing of everything was really crazy because it was during the finale of FBI. I got the first script, and Nina... The baby wasn't going to make it. Then, I got another script, and the baby was. Then, we didn't know, and I was like, "How do I not get to know if I get to keep the baby?" I understood when we got a call that was asking me to join Most Wanted. They didn't want the character to lose the baby, they wanted to keep the relationship between Scola and Nina. They wanted to be able to portray a different type of working mother and working family with two parents and be able to do these mini crossovers. Gosh, you never could have told me when I signed on to do 10 episodes and take over for Missy for this little tiny stint where we just get a view into Nina that I was now going to be sticking around.

But I also just felt really grateful because I love the character that I get to play, and I love... She's very different than who I am, and she requires things of me that I'm afraid of, like speaking out about things or confrontation or... After having certain scenes, me going to somebody and be like, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to yell at you." It's an interesting challenge for me to play such a headstrong, confident, no apologies, skilled woman.

PC: How does it feel being able to play her on a more permanent basis now that you're on Most Wanted as a series regular?

VanSanten: That part really feels the same because even when I did my 10 episodes, I had created a very flushed-out character with a background that I knew and understood. But what's cool is it gets to keep growing, and the audience now gets to see. They get to see how and where she was raised, her family life growing up. If they don't get to see it, they get to hear about it and just get a deeper understanding of who Nina was.

But for me, those things already existed, and David Hudgins, the showrunner... I got to have this really wonderful hour long meeting with the writers' room, and I got to share with them who I thought Nina was when I created her for those 15 episodes that I already played her. To share with them why and to see what they connected with for the character and what we're going to use and just be a part of that creative process and watching... Hopefully, getting to see all of the audience, their experience of why she is the way she is. That part is going to be really special.

PC: How will Nina acclimate to being on the Fugitive Task Force? She already knows the team, having worked with them before, so that has to be a little bit easier on her.

VanSanten: Yeah, I think we see that from her entrance into the team. We already see that there's a familiarity to each of the agents. I think it's just going to be about where her skill set fits in and what she does best. I think it is a wonderful fit because she offers something to the team, skills that they don't have, and they have skills she doesn't have. We all get to learn from each other and make each other better. Even in what we do as actors, that's why I love what I do is the collaboration. Certain people come from different walks of life, and they offer things to the story that make it better. If Nina can be that for the Fugitive Task Force and make the team even better, then I'm so happy to be there.

PC: Now that she's a mother, how does that affect her career and mindset? She kept working as long as she possibly could while pregnant and then nearly got her and the baby killed. Now being back at work has to be hard, especially in her field.

VanSanten: I think that so often, it's really difficult for women who want to go back to work or whose work life really fulfills them and is something that is part of their purpose or what they're driven towards. So often in our society, we don't always see women who have the voice or who talk about that, who talk about motherhood not being the only thing that is fulfilling for them. I think it's an important story to share. I think Nina's job is something that she's so passionate about and so driven by, but I also think that there's space to also be a mother.

It may take more of a village to help raise baby Dougie, having two working parents, but every day we see it more and more in our society as moms and dads or moms and moms or dads and dads, but two parents more often than not nowadays have to have jobs and they make it work, albeit be very challenging and I think that that's going to create a really interesting dynamic between Scola and Nina that we'll get to see more of in their personal life.

PC: What are you most excited about that relationship, especially now that you and John Boyd aren't exactly working together anymore? Can we expect him to make a cameo or two or on Most Wanted or maybe have you return to FBI?

VanSanten: I definitely know that that was something the writers of both shows were excited about were these mini crossovers, were being able to... The familiarity now of both of our characters having been in big crossovers and having Nina on that show to start, being able to use us both and to tell stories and to have a connection between all of the characters is something I know that we're really excited for. We definitely get to see into their personal lives a lot more this season.

 PC: Having worked with the Most Wanted cast before, has your dynamic changed at all now that you're part of the show full-time?

VanSanten: Oh, of course. Of course. When I worked with them before, it was for this really limited amount of time during a crossover. Seeing people five days a week and spending so much time with them is really wonderful. Day 2 of shooting, I remember it was just me and Roxy and we were sitting on location in our chairs facing each other and just spilled our guts. It allows you to bond in a way that I think really reflects on screen.

I knew Edwin, who plays Ray, before from a show that we did together. I just think he's so fantastic, and that mutual love and respect for one another is something that comes out in chemistry and scenes already because we already have a personal history of knowing each other and working together. I think that it only enriches the lives of the characters because we are spending more and more time together. It's not a surface level in real-life understanding, but a deeper understanding day to day of being on a set and real life happening while you're shooting, and you bond in a deeper way.

PC: What can you preview about the season premiere and the season as a whole and what Nina will bring to the table as a new member?

VanSanten: We definitely hit the ground running, and if we're not running, we're flying. I had no idea when people told me Most Wanted is a different show, and I was like, "But it's still FBI. You guys are just in the same building. We're just in the basement." They're like, "No, it's a different show." I wish I would've really believed them because it definitely is more intense. The crimes are more extensive. We get to learn more about the characters of the people who are committing these crimes, and it requires a different skill set that quite often I get to learn that Nina has when I read the scripts, and I didn't know that she could do all of these wonderful things.

But luckily I have done survival courses, I've gone camping, I've driven lots of cars. Growing up and being in nature so much, I think, helps with some of the skill sets that Nina needs to have in order to help out on a lot of the cases. But definitely, this season is very intense. It takes a lot of guts to do some of the cases that we have to do.

FBI: Most Wanted Season 5 premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 p.m. ET as part of CBS' 2024 spring schedule.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.