FBI, CIA, One Chicago: Have Crossovers Become a Crutch in Dick Wolf’s Universe?

Have you heard about the latest crossover?

No, silly, not that one, I’m talking about the other one.

While we’ll be patiently awaiting the epic One Chicago Crossover that will reunite Upstead, there’s some more crossover talk in the land of Dick Wolf.

We can most definitely anticipate a crossover between FBI and the latest spinoff in the franchise, the CIA.

Not only will we see crossovers, but CIA’s series premiere, slated to air directly after FBI’s return on February 23, will serve as one, too.

It’s a strategy where CBS will use FBI’s big return after a long hiatus as a launching pad for CIA, as the very premise of the latter series consists of the FBI and CIA forming an elaborate task force in NYC.

The concept of CIA as an offshoot comes together reasonably enough.

Intitially, there were legitimate doubts and raised questions about how they could extend the franchise into a whole other agency, and one that typically focuses on crime-fighting beyond American soil.

I suppose it’s reasonable that they’ll rely on a crossover to kickstart the spinoff. Jeremy Sisto will reprise his role as Jubal, most likely to lend the CIA an agent, Bill Goodman.

But this move is so transparent in its attempt to lure FBI viewers to watch the spinoff. The problem with crossovers like this is viewers see right through such a brazen agenda.

The FBI franchise already has a tougher task here. No matter how you slice it, we lost two solid FBI spinoffs that people loved for a spinoff that viewers don’t exactly understand.

We’ve gone from different versions of one agency to the introduction of an entirely different one. There have been so many changes happening behind the scenes of CIA ahead of getting it off the ground that many fans have already been wary.

It’s the promise of Nick Gehlfuss and Tom Ellis working alongside each other that is CIA’s biggest selling point, presently.

But it also seems like this won’t even be the first crossover between these two series. It sounds like the potential for crossovers is likely to be near constant, given that it’s a joint-agency task force.

Alana De La Garza’s Isobel, Missy Peregrym’s Maggie, and Necar Zadegan’s Nikki will partake in crossover action, too.

And that runs the risk of being way too forceful when people already have reservations about CIA in the first place. If you’re a fan of just FBI, you don’t particularly want to deal with crossovers with characters you have little interest in.

For those who are still upset about the dual cancellations, there’s the wonder of why they’re putting so much effort into building this specific universe when they didn’t necessarily do that before with the other two shows.

Also, it does read as a deliberate ploy to lure people into the offshoot.

But there’s also the matter of oversaturation.

Crossovers are great when they’re treated as featured events that celebrate most, if not all, characters from two shows.

Right now, there’s no real fun in having FBI/CIA crossovers before they can even establish characters for one of the series.

They already risk feeling as empty as the Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU crossover attempts, which barely feel like anything getting excited about.

Those, too, have the feelingof getting people to tune into Law & Order more, especially since their cast shakeups are enough to give you whiplash.

And because Olivia Benson (who seems to be the only one who really crosses over enough to notice) can pop in here and there anyway, it never feels like anything special.

The Law & Order franchise already treats crossovers like such an afterthought that you can’t distinguish which ones actually matter versus not.

One Chicago is different, however. And compared to FBI/CIA, we’ve at least had all the series involved on air for over a decade.

The franchise has earned the right to have crossovers, and they’re a welcome event after we lost out on major features for a while after COVID.

The primary issue with the crossover approach here, at least right now, is the sense that the shows involved skimp on various aspects of their own quality to have enough to go all-out for a feature crossover event.

A three-part crossover COULD deliver all of the primary characters for each series onscreen at the same time, which is ironically something they can’t even muster on their own shows weekly.

As we know, Chicago PD is the worst offender of going long stretches without seeing the full Intelligence team working cohesively on a case within an episode, leaning heavily into its character-centric episodes instead.

And Chicago Fire is a close second in sidelining characters just to focus on a select few.

So the possibility of actually facing an event that gives us all of the characters we love is fun, but it comes with the frustration of not having that as a steady option.

Although this year, instead of the Avengers approach they took with the 2025 crossover, which was the first in over five years, they’re leading with the tease of returning characters for only one of the three shows.

It’s early yet, so we could still get more details to whet the whistles of all One Chicago fans, not just a select demographic, but that tactic is still gimmicky on two fronts.

For one, it could mean a heavy focus on Upstead and Chicago PD, which would be frustrating for other viewers, especially if the crossover event isn’t balanced.

But the alternative is using a crossover to deliver a big return for characters who require a more detailed storyline to dig into (or wrap up) their respective stories after the series dropped the ball on both.

A crossover isn’t really the space to do that and do ones due diligence.

There have also been such lukewarm reactions to each series of the franchise individually this season that it almost feels like something just to reignite a spark that hasn’t exactly been there.

Will I be firmly planted in my seat and glued to that One Chicago crossover? No doubt. Generally, they’re pretty exciting.

My primary issue with One Chicago is that I wish the individual series in the franchise treated episodes on random Wednesdays as just as exciting and worth investing in.

And FBI and CIA? I just wish they’d let CIA establish itself on its own merit. When you force something like that, it breeds resentment and defiance.

Crossovers should be strategic, not quick fixes.

Agree? Disagree?
Let us know in the comments, or share this article with someone who will want to argue about it with you. That’s what makes it fun.

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