From Lucifer’s Tom Ellis in CIA to a Yellowstone spinoff and a fresh take on everyone’s favorite place, the Department of Motor Vehicles, CBS is betting big on familiar faces and fresh stories.
There are two exciting things to look forward to this time of year. The first is the Halfway to Halloween celebration, and the second is the CBS Primetime lineup announcement. This year’s lineup brings a mix of returning favorites, franchise expansions, and bold new characters.
CBS just revealed its 2025–2026 primetime schedule, introducing new dramas, comedies, and reality shows while building on several hit series. Standout premieres include Y: Marshals, a Yellowstone-inspired drama; CIA, an FBI-universe expansion led by Lucifer’s Tom Ellis; and DMV, a quirky workplace comedy featuring a cast of familiar faces and fresh talent.
Tom Ellis, who built a loyal fanbase from his time as the devilishly charming lead in Lucifer, returns to primetime in CIA, playing a fast-talking CIA officer who gets paired with a more by-the-book FBI agent.
This new drama, part of the expanding FBI franchise, airs Mondays at 10 PM and comes from executive producer Dick Wolf. With Ellis’s fan-following and the FBI brand behind it, CIA has the early ingredients of a breakout hit.
Coming midseason is Y: Marshals (working title), which brings back Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton. Now working with the U.S. Marshals, Dutton is no longer on the Yellowstone Ranch but still living a high-stakes, emotionally intense life in Montana.
Executive produced by Taylor Sheridan, this one has strong roots in the modern Western drama tradition that’s kept fans hooked for years.
Two dramas land on Fridays that carry over characters and worlds CBS viewers already know. Boston Blue follows Blue Bloods’ Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) as he trades the NYPD for the Boston Police Department.
He’s paired with Lena Silvers, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, who made Star Trek history as Captain Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery when she became one of the franchise’s most recent starship captains. Martin-Green’s new role introduces a sharp, grounded character from a respected law enforcement family. It’s both a spinoff and a fresh start that should keep the spirit of Blue Bloods alive while carving out its own identity.
Also on Fridays is Sheriff Country, set in the same universe as Fire Country. Morena Baccarin stars as Mickey Fox, a small-town sheriff dealing with her ex-con father, her daughter’s past, and the kind of personal and professional messes that make Friday night dramas worth watching.
With ties to other CBS shows and a complex lead, we might even see some fun crossovers or surprise cameos. It sounds like the kind of show that could build its own world while still dropping in on the ones fans already love.
At 8:30 PM on Mondays, CBS has added one new comedy to its lineup: DMV. Based on award-winning author Katherine Heiny’s short story, this workplace series follows a group of underpaid, over-it employees navigating the thankless job of running the Department of Motor Vehicles.
With this cast and their history, we can expect a great mix of comedy and heartfelt moments. DMV stars Tim Meadows (SNL, The Goldbergs), Harriet Dyer (Colin from Accounts), Alex Tarrant (NCIS: Hawai’i), Gigi Zumbado (Bridge and Tunnel), Molly Kearney (SNL), and Tony Cavalero (The Righteous Gemstones). Obviously, viewers will be tuning in to see this ensemble, but the bonus might be seeing one of their crazy DMV experiences show up in an episode.
America’s Culinary Cup, hosted by Padma Lakshmi, arrives midweek with a high-stakes competition featuring some of the country’s top chefs. The challenges go beyond the plate, testing creativity, leadership, and endurance. Lakshmi, also an executive producer, will no doubt bring experience and polish to a format fans of food TV already trust.
Also in the unscripted category is The Road, a docu-follow series from executive producers Taylor Sheridan, Blake Shelton, and Keith Urban. The show takes viewers behind the scenes of a touring music competition, where up-and-coming singers join a national tour, performing as opening acts and trying to win over local fanbases to stay on the road. It’s gritty, personal, and aimed at showcasing the grind behind the dream.
Further down the road, CBS has two new dramas in the works. Einstein stars Matthew Gray Gubler as the brilliant but offbeat great-grandson of Albert Einstein. After getting into trouble with the law, he finds himself helping a local detective solve unusually complex crimes. It’s part mystery, part comedy, and part ‘how-is-he-even-doing-that?’ It’s a procedural with its own weird little twist.
Cupertino, from Robert and Michelle King, is a Silicon Valley legal drama about a small legal team taking on corporate giants. It’s early in development, but CBS has already opened a writers’ room for 12 scripts, suggesting this one is on a fast track.
There’s a lot happening in the new CBS schedule, but the real story is how much of it builds on what fans already know—and how it tries to do it without repeating itself. With familiar characters in new situations, franchise worlds expanding in different directions, and a few offbeat ideas thrown in, this is the kind of lineup that doesn’t need hype to get attention. It just needs to be good.
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