Warning: IMPORTANT SPOILERS AHEAD for Episode 18 of FBI Season 4, called “Fear Nothing.”
The last episode of FBI may have been called “Fear Nothing”, but the story was enough to keep the characters and fans on their toes for much of the hour. The threat of a sarin gas attack on US soil has already forced OA to confront one of his fears from his days in the military, and his paranoia on that front may have ultimately saved his life and that of his partner. Still, Maggie is in bad shape after exposure to sarin gas, and there is no 100% guarantee of full recovery. Speaking to CinemaBlend, showrunner Rick Eid broke down actress Missy Peregrym’s twist and future on the show.
When the FBI was running out of time to prevent a sarin gas attack, Maggie and OA had to run into a booby-trapped building without protective gear. Although they managed to stop the man who wanted to use the gas on the public, Maggie was exposed to sarin and then locked in a room with it, and OA was unable to break in to save her and admit them both. serve with the antidote needles until the damage was done.
Maggie survived and was in the hospital by the end of the hour, but will Missy Peregrym be back? Fortunately, Rick Eid had a short, sweet and very clear answer to that question:
Yes.
There’s actually a great reason for this twist for Maggie: Missy Peregrym is pregnant with her second child and it was time for her maternity leave. Although “Fear Nothing” was her last episode of the season, she’s coming back.
FBI had no qualms about unsubscribing and returning her for her previous maternity leave (which included the very first FBI/A Chicago crossover). That doesn’t mean Maggie is in for an easy recovery, though. The showrunner explained why sarin gas was the choice to take Maggie off the commission:
It just presented itself as an idea that one of the writers, Joe Halpin, had presented as a general idea. “What if sarin gas was on the market and caused OA?” And when we knew that Missy was about to start her maternity leave, it was like, ‘Oh, maybe we can build this interesting character story into that plot about OA and Maggie and play around with this idea of their fears and culminate with Maggie on the wrong end of a sarin gas leak.’ So it was just a great idea that we could then connect to Missy’s real situation.
The sarin gas episode wasn’t meant to say goodbye to Missy Peregrym for a while, but the story worked as a way of explaining why Maggie won’t be around and won’t be in action at 26 Fed. Comes in the same of course TV season 2021-2022 that saw the death of Rina even beyond the death of jess FBI: most wanted, it feels like all bets are off when it comes to the fate of important characters. Rick Eid spoke about the feeling of very high stakes towards “Fear Nothing”, saying:
It’s a dangerous job and sometimes you have to feel that the bullets are real and that our characters are not impervious to danger. They can get hurt, and that’s just real. So I think it really makes these moments feel where you’re not sure what’s going to happen.
OAs experience with sarin gas and palpable fear in the episode, the stakes were raised even before Maggie was locked in a room with the leak, and he couldn’t even shoot through the glass. His desperate search for a mask and determination to get through and save her made her fate all the more uncertain. While a lengthy recovery process isn’t ideal, it’s definitely better than killing Maggie!
All things considered, it’s almost hard to believe that the season will continue after “Fear Nothing” since it was such a huge and groundbreaking episode for both Maggie and OA. According to the showrunner – who also co-wrote the episode – that’s no coincidence, because one of the goals of the episode was to feel like a finale. Rick Eid shared if the writing process was any different than usual:
It was a pretty normal writing process, but with the aim of making it a very intense episode, almost like a finale-esque episode because it was Missy’s last episode for a while, so we really wanted to make it feel like a thrilling, energetic action driving, and you weren’t sure what was going to happen. We tried to write it like it was a finale. So I guess the short answer to your question is, yes, it was different. We made episode 18 feel like a finale because it was her goodbye episode.
The actual season finale for FBI will only be broadcast on May 24 in the schedule of the spring finals, but this marked the end of the season for Missy Peregrym in action as Maggie. That’s not to say the show won’t name her or address her absence, and OA took her fate very seriously, even though he’s the one who saved her. When I noted that Zeeko Zaki absolutely crushed his performance, Rick Eid agreed:
Well, I couldn’t agree with you more. He was great. He was great. He had his A game on. I mean, he was great. And Missy was fantastic. It was a difficult episode. It’s hard to make all that feel real, you know, and not to quote “TV.” And I think they both did a great job of keeping it so emotional, real and grounded. And I think the director did a great job too.
See what happens next on FBI as it heads to its official final with new episodes on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, ahead of FBI: International at 9 p.m. and FBI: most wanted at 10 p.m. If you miss Maggie already, you can rewatch past episodes with all four seasons streamed so far with a Paramount+ subscription† You can also watch the aftermath of Jess’ death at FBI: most wanted while moving on from losing its main character, with Dylan McDermott steps into Julian McMahon’s shoes as team leader.