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CIA Season 1 recap: What to remember before Season 2 debuts on CBS

The first season ended on a huge cliffhanger for agent Colin Glass (Tom Ellis)!

Guides by Avery Kaplan, Contributing writer

Published on Fri Aug 21 2026

Created by Dick Wolf, David Hudgins, Nicole Perlman, David Chasteen, and Warren Leight, CIA is a scripted series that follows the team up between a CIA agent and a FBI agent who investigate cases related to national security in New York City. So, what do you need to remember before CIA Season 2 debuts on CBS?

What is CIA?

CIA is a spinoff of FBI, another ongoing scripted police procedural series on CBS. The show features Tom Ellis as CIA case officer Colin Glass, Nick Gehlfuss as FBI special agent William "Bill" Randall Goodman, Natalee Linez as CIA analyst Gina Gosian, and Necar Zadegan as Nikki Reynard, Deputy Chief of the CIA's New York station.

The show has also featured multiple crossover characters from FBI, including Missy Peregrym as FBI Special Agent Maggie Bell, Alana de la Garza as FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Isobel Castille, James Chen as FBI Technical Analyst Ian Lim and Jeremy Sisto as FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Jubal Valentine.

What happened in the CIA Season 1 finale?

After debuting in 2026, CIA Season 1 concluded with a bombshell cliffhanger ending. Agent Glass made a shocking discovery: his former lover and former partner, Antoinette "Toni" Napier (Angela Sarafyan), had not died in an explosion in the Philippines a year earlier, as he had previous believed. In fact, Toni is actually still alive, leading Glass to question everything he thought he knew about being a spy. Meanwhile, Agent Goodman turns down a promotion to Cleveland, leaving the question of how he and Glass will handle the fallout from the Season 1 finale revelation.

CIA Season 2 will debut on CBS on October 5th, 2026 at 9:00 PM/8:00 PM central, right after FBI. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Paramount+.

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Avery Kaplan: Avery lives and writes in Southern California. She is the co-author of Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority with her spouse, Rebecca Oliver Kaplan. Avery is Features Editor at Comics Beat, and you can also find her writing on StarTrek.com, The Gutter Review, Geek Girl Authority, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.