FBI: International returns after a brief break in the 2025 TV schedule on April 1, and I don’t expect the FBI spinoff to pack a lot of pranks into the episode. With the weeks counting down until the final credits roll due to CBS cancelling the series, the stakes feel sky-high, and the promo for the next new episode showing Smitty seemingly being seriously injured made me flash back to what Eva-Jane Willis told me earlier this season about her character being open to leaving the Fly Team.
Called “Little Angel,” the new episode to start out April will not only feature an American CEO’s family being kidnapped and held for ransom, but also a surprise visit from Wes’ ex-girlfriend. The description from CBS doesn’t at all suggest that Smitty is in any particular danger, but the promo indicates that fans may want to cross their fingers for her. Take a look:
Now, of course we shouldn’t take everything that happens in a preview as proof of what’s definitely, totally, 100% going to happen, but FBI: International doesn’t always mess around when it comes to promos. Remember the preview that looked like it featured Vo being shot? She definitely was shot, and viewers had to wait through winter hiatus before learning that she’d survive! (You can revisit the winter premiere streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.)
I wouldn’t be shocked if “Little Angel” reveals that Smitty was shot in a bulletproof vest. Still, seeing that happen in the preview reminded me of when I spoke with Eva-Jane Willis back in February about the episode that took Smitty back to England, and she spoke about more than just the surprise return of Christiane Paul as Katrin Jaeger. That episode came right after Smitty decided she was willing to leave the Fly Team rather than compromise her morals and overlook some issues with Agent Tyler Booth (Jay Hayden) sticking around.
The problem was averted when Tyler received a post back in the U.S. that would keep him close to his daughter, and Wes had a lovely speech for Smitty about wanting her to stay. Willis’ comments were technically about that situation with Wes and Tyler, but I can see how they might apply to what happens to her next. She said:
I think she was genuinely willing to leave at that point. And I think Mitchell sitting her down, as he did, and saying to her, ‘You are really important to this team, and I need you’ – I think that completely stunned her. I don’t think she was expecting that from him. She needed to hear that from him, and she needed to know that she wasn’t just a thorn in his side, that she actually is a valued member of the team, and that she’s contributing, she’s adding something, and that Mitchell, at the head of the team, needs her, wants her there.
While Smitty did get the assurance she needed after spending several episodes seeing Wes listening to Tyler as the devil on his shoulder instead of Smitty as the Europol liaison, the storyline showed that she is willing to make big moves away from the Fly Team if that’s best for the overall mission. Plus, her having a great breakthrough could be used to make it hurt all the more when something goes sideways.
So, even though I don’t necessarily think that Smitty is going to be wounded like Vo was when she was shot earlier in Season 4, I am a little worried about what the future may hold for her. What might once have seemed like the start of an ongoing subplot now feels a lot more serious with the end of FBI: International nigh. Willis went on:
It was only once Mitchell said that that she realized that she wasn’t doing the right thing by leaving. Since [Episode] 10, I think that has strengthened her resolve to be in the Fly Team, to be in this task force, with the Fly Team, and to continue and get stronger and let the relationships go deeper with all of them.
Who else just keeps getting sadder that International (as well as FBI: Most Wanted) got the axe and won’t return beyond the 2024-2025 TV schedule? I’ve had doubts about FBI: CIA ever since it was announced with that dubious title, and it’s a shame to have to lose both shows in one fell swoop. There’s always the hope that some cast members could migrate over to FBI since the original series is already guaranteed another two seasons.
For now, though, we should just enjoy what’s left of the ride. Keep tuning in to CBS on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET for episodes of FBI: International, and revisit older episodes of Season 4 streaming on Paramount+.