Spoilers ahead for Episode 14 of FBI Season 7, called “Hitched” and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
FBI returned to CBS from a brief break in the 2025 TV schedule with an episode that had OA flying solo a lot more than usual after the train carrying him and Gemma was hijacked. While Maggie and Co. were helping as much as they could from the outside, OA had to find a way to stop the train and save his girlfriend from bleeding out. Zeeko Zaki spoke with CinemaBlend about getting to pull off some action movie-esque movies, and his comments about that final scene with Maggie leave me happy all over again that FBI has already been renewed for Season 8.
Fans are certainly used to seeing OA in action after more than 100 episodes over seven seasons and counting, but fighting his way toward the front of a train is quite different from a chase sequence across New York City. Zaki opened up about filming scenes taking place in a moving train… a.k.a., a space with a lot less elbow room than usual. The actor shared:
It was really cool. It’s so fun to get to do stuff that we don’t usually do, and being on that train, and getting to kind of honor the action movies that I’ve seen in these confined spaces, planes and trains and things like that, was really fun. But our stunt supervisor and our stunt guys are all so great, so it was really natural for us to just see the space, figure it out and make it look as cool as possible.
The stunts on FBI (as well as on the Emmy-nominated FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International) tend to be pretty cinematic on a weekly basis, so it’s fitting that Zeeko Zaki got to “honor the action movies” with OA’s train fights. OA fortunately did successfully save all of the hostages and stop the train in the nick of time, but Gemma’s life was in serious jeopardy after she was caught in crossfire.
Thanks to emergency first aid involving tea bags, tampons, and some sympathetic hijackers, Gemma did live, leading to a sweet scene between Comfort Clinton in Gemma’s hospital bed and Zeeko Zaki as the still very shaken OA. The longtime series regular shed some light on what was going through his character’s head at that point:
We don’t really see the guilt too much as we see the fear, because we’re still in this moment. And there’s a lot at stake. You have Gemma, and then you have all the other passengers. I think he’s very good at compartmentalizing that. He’s very good at staying in it and staying focused. So hopefully that reads, but the guilt definitely comes through at the end there, and just getting to play those different levels on the emotional sort of spectrum that we haven’t gotten to maybe see before, was really fun.
That emotional scene between OA and Gemma wasn’t actually the final scene of the episode, though. Maggie, who had been freaking out to various degrees throughout “Hitched” while OA was fighting hijackers on his own, was at the hospital to support her partner. After he confided that he felt like he was supposed to protect Gemma, she gave him a hug that he clearly needed, and really reminded me of why Maggie and OA are one of my favorite TV partnerships.
So, what did it mean to OA that Maggie was there for him at the very end of an exceptionally trying day? I posed Zeeko Zaki that very question, and he shared:
It means the world, of course. Our relationship and our partnership is so strong, and I would have done the same for her, of course. Again, it’s really exciting to get these moments to show how connected and how strong we are together and apart.
For all the changes that FBI has gone through over the years, Maggie and OA’s partnership is still a key part of the series, and Zaki’s comments make me relieved that – assuming there are no major tragedies for the team before the end of Season 7, anyway – they’ll be back for Season 8. In fact, in light of Most Wanted and International getting cancelled, FBI‘s multi-season renewal last spring comes as a relief. The original series is currently guaranteed through Season 9.
There’s still plenty of time before the Season 7 finale, however, and the promo for the next episode suggests that Maggie might need to lean on OA soon. Take a look:
Maggie seemingly will end up in serious peril while the team is on the hunt for a serial killer, and the team is still short an agent due to Scola not yet getting a permanent partner after losing Tiff. Tune in to CBS on Tuesday, March 18 at 8 p.m. ET for the next new episode of FBI, followed by FBI: International at 9 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted at 10 p.m. ET.
Tuesdays will look very different come fall without International and Most Wanted, so a big question now is whether CBS will officially order the potential FBI: CIA spinoff to series.