[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Season 6 of FBI.]

The Big Picture

• 'FBI' Season 6 kicked off the season in a big way, with a team member loss and personal struggles.
• Jeremy Sisto enjoys portraying Jubal and discovering new character facets, six season into the series.
• Expect continued emotional depth, explorations of fatherhood, and challenging cases this season.

Six seasons into its run, the CBS series FBI has already kicked things off in a big way with the loss of a team member and an investigation that proved to be connected to one of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine’s (Jeremy Sisto) past cases. In addition to that, he also had to deal with his son’s school suspension and worry that his personal demons might be bleeding into his own family, realizing that how he handled the situation now could affect how things play out in the future. The series also stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Alana De La Garza, John Boyd and Katherine Renee Kane.

After screening the second episode of Season 6, Collider got the opportunity to chat with Sisto about still discovering new sides to his character Jubal, the father-son relationship, revising an old case, shooting the episode’s big action sequence, losing one of their team and his thought that they’ll likely revisit that at some point, working with this ensemble cast, how he enjoys getting to join FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted for crossover episodes, and what’s still to come this season.

'FBI's Jeremy Sisto Has Great Trust in How the Creative Team Explores Jubal's Personal Stories

Collider: I’ve been watching this show since the beginning, and it’s cool that it feels like we’re still learning and still seeing new sides of these characters, particularly with yours and everything going on with his family. Are you surprised to be in that position, six years into a procedural? That is definitely not always the case on a show like this, so are you surprised to still be getting new aspects of your character to play?

JEREMY SISTO: It is encouraging, and it makes my job more enjoyable as an actor. I also have great trust in Rick [Eid] and Dick [Wolf], of course, and everyone choosing to tell Jubal’s personal stories. I trust that they know what the audience wants, so it makes me happy that there is still more that they want to uncover. One of the storylines that we are always trying to express or tell is that it is a real challenge to have this job and have a really complicated personal life, or to do something as important as parenting while also having this job. I’m really happy, and I feel really proud that it seems like the audience is still tuning in to see different sides of Jubal. He is a really interesting character. The writers have really had a good time exploring him, his past struggles with addiction, his broken marriage, and so many different aspects of his parenting.

Obviously, the possibility of your child struggling with your biggest struggle in life is a very hard moment to grasp. But it’s also a really hard moment to dissect and understand where your problem ends and their experience begins. In this situation, it’s not what he fears it is. It’s a different struggle. It’s his son trying to make friends and trying to learn how to stick to his own set of values while doing so. Not to say he won’t have to deal with some kind of battle with addiction because it can be a genetic thing. But at this point, that’s not actually what has come up. I’m always very excited to see what element of the character the writers decide to illuminate. Oftentimes that has to do with what main plot storylines they’re telling.

It’s something that we have been getting little bits of, here and there, throughout the run of the series, so it makes sense, in a moment like this, that Jubal would have a bit of self-recognition, which would have been too convenient if it hadn’t been brought up before. This series has done a really good job of laying that groundwork over the seasons, to get to this point.

SISTO: Yeah, I agree. It’s hard with these shows to not have it feel too repetitive. When I first read the script, it was a question of, what is different about this fear and this situation with his son? How is the situation different, with the regrets of past cases, which has also been a situation. This is the first one for Jubal that was just a bad call. He wasn’t drinking on the job at this time and his marriage wasn’t falling apart. He can’t blame any of his personal struggles for this mistake. It’s just one of the situations that happens in this job. You make the wrong choice. And it’s coming right on the tails of Tiffany making the wrong call, and him supporting her and saying, “This is just what happens.” It was nice to have those two storylines put together.

With this case, it doesn’t feel like it was a bad call, but instead was just the wrong call. It’s easy to see why, if somebody is missing, and you have no leads, and you can’t find them, they could end up being presumed dead.

SISTO: For sure. In episodes in the past, it was clear that Jubal was going through a lot in his personal life, and it was affecting his clarity with the job. That’s happened a few times. One of the storylines I like with Jubal’s is that they’re telling the story of somebody who has gotten through the throes of addiction, and he still battles it day-to-day, but he has moved on in the sense that there are challenges that occur that have nothing to do with that. What happens in that last scene is that he is really on the verge of taking too much responsibility for it all, which is what happens for an addict. You start feeling like you’ve compromised your integrity, and then it cycles into self-destruction. And so, just to see the kernel of him saying, “You know what? I have to bear the weight of this. This is my screw-up, and I’m gonna hold on to that.” Fortunately Maggie, who he’s had these conversations with before, reminds him that it was just a mistake and to let it go, and he’s able to. These procedurals can be really interesting like that. Obviously, it’s not every episode that you get to see the stuff with these characters, but these episodes then speak to every time you see the character after that.

Because you do get used to the rhythm of the cases and working with the team, is it nice to have those moments where you get the interactions with your son’s mother and your son, exploring that family dynamic?

SISTO: Yeah, it’s nice. I’ve had as much experience doing that kind of stuff in my career as doing this more decisive decision-making, active stuff. My personal life is much more filled with ambiguity and relationships are more complicated, so I definitely appreciate that I’m able to tap into that a little bit while I also appreciate that my main job is a much more decisive and active version of acting.

'FBI's Jeremy Sisto Believes the Death of Hobbs Will Be Revisited

This season already feels like a big season and we’re only two episodes in. How did you feel about the way that things were handled with the death of Hobbs? What’s it like to have a big moment like that happen, and know that it’s clearly going to have to be revisited at some point?

SISTO: It’s pretty rare. We’ve done it one other time, and I think that case is still actually ongoing. I was really happy to see it and I’m not exactly sure if or when it comes up again, but I imagine it will. Jubal said, “The FBI does not forget or forgive," so I imagine there’s going to be a continuation of that. It was great. That’s a testament to the audience and the consistency of the viewership. One of the great things about these shows is that you can turn it on, having never watched the show, and get right into it. So, when they do one of these more serialized sets of episodes, it’s really for the fans who have been around. These shows are not meant to make it difficult to sleep afterwards, so you can’t do it that often. You can’t have these open-ended things because our audience, I feel, does really want an all-in-one story. But it’s nice when they go another way too.

The ending of episode 2 was particularly interesting because even though the case is resolved, it’s not resolved with a neat bow because trauma can be so deep that the victim is not emotionally ready to just step back into their old life.

SISTO: It’s obviously one of the more traumatic things that we all witness. Every time something like that happens and there’s some kind of rescue or escape, you have to understand how long the road will be to recovery and healing. It’s intriguing and it’s really heartbreaking. It’s a pretty heavy episode for that reason and that’s why I thought it was a nice juxtaposition with the drinking storyline. It’s disturbing and hard to put your head around, but it's ultimately not as big of a deal as it seems. To have that juxtaposed with this idea of a kid who’s really gone through an awful childhood was very sad.

What was it like to shoot the whole sequence toward the end of the episode, when the perpetrator has the victim and has taken hostages, the tables turn, and you’re trying to reason with the kidnapped girl? Was it very complicated and challenging to get the logistics and the technical side of that right?

SISTO: Yeah. First of all, the actors who played the father, the girl, and the kidnapper really killed it and really brought a lot of emotion and realism to it. I don’t do a ton of the action stuff, so there’s a little bit of trust that has to go into it. When they’re wrestling on the ground, we had to figure out at what point I should jump in. When I do have that stuff, I try to make things as realistic as possible. We have great people who figure out how that stuff is choreographed, and as an actor, you’re just playing your part. It was really gratifying to watch all the people involved in making those things work.

Jeremy Sisto Enjoys Laughing and Joking with His 'FBI' Co-Stars

This is definitely a team that seems to have moments where they check in with each other because they notice if something doesn’t seem quite right. What do you enjoy about playing with the character dynamics of this ensemble, especially after six seasons now? And what’s it like to build those relationships with your fellow cast members?

SISTO: It’s interesting to see where they take it. We’re at the will of the writers and I trust where they go. I enjoy playing with all the actors. There’s not any of them that I’m more excited about than the other. Sometimes Jubal and Isobel will take some time together, and then Maggie comes into it, and there are moments with Tiffany. And then, there are some that I haven’t had as much with and I think, “Oh, good, we’ll save that for Season 7.” I think we all enjoy each other. We also all have a different way of working. When you work with people long enough, that’s the fun of it. And also, we just mess around a lot and laugh a lot. We’re all a little bit in the camp of, “Let’s try to make this a fun set to be on for 12 hours a day.” All of those things put together make for a nice experience.

We’ve already also seen you on FBI: International in their first episode back. Can we expect more crossover appearances? What do you enjoy about getting to visit the other series?

SISTO: I think it’s great that the International Fly Team is utilizing the JOC (Joint Operations Center) and Jubal as a resource. It can be difficult to get the productions to align. It’s not easy for these crossovers. But I’m excited that Jubal and his relationship with the Fly Team seems to be something that the creators are leaning into. It’s cool because it ties them in together. It’s a brand, at this point. I think people really enjoy the connection between the shows and enjoy how they operate, connected to each other. Obviously, we’re not the only show that does that, but it’s definitely something that I haven’t had the opportunity to do too much of. I’m enjoying the perk of not just being able to do my show, but also being able to hop over to two sister shows.

Jeremy Sisto Says 'FBI' Has More Shocking Storylines to Come in Season 6

Beyond episode two, what can you say to tease what’s still to come this season?

SISTO: There are some pretty shocking and interesting storylines that come up that I can’t speak about. You'll just have to stay tuned. For Jubal, I’m most excited that he’s helping out the International team. For me, it’s always a continuation of making the JOC work as a device in the show and telling the story of how that actually works. Every episode is fun for me to have another shot at that. I hope that the audience enjoys seeing that come together at times. I enjoy making that work. Even when Jubal is not dealing with his own stuff, every episode is fun for me. The writers have come up with some great storylines and there’s some really cool personal stuff.

FBI airs on Tuesday nights on CBS and is available to stream at Paramount+. Check out the trailer for Season 6:

Watch on Paramount+