With two shows ending and one show starting, there are big changes coming to the FBI franchise. But could one of them also be the loss of Special Agent OA Zidan on the FBI?
Where’s OA on FBI?
OA was missing from Season 7, Episode 15, “Acolyte.” While the FBI didn’t explain OA’s absence in the episode, fans assumed that OA wasn’t a part of this week’s mission because he was busy caring for his girlfriend, Gemma Brooks, who was seriously injured and hospitalized in a train hijacking explosion — which OA blamed himself for — in the previous episode, “Hitched.” While OA was missing from “Acolyte,” the preview for the next episode, “Covered,” confirms that OA — and Zeeko Zaki, who’s played him since Season 1 — haven’t left the FBI and are set to return.
OA’s missing appearance also came a month later he was also mysteriously absent in Season 7, Episode 12, “Manhunt,” in which Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille was also missing. FBI also didn’t explain why OA and Isobel were absent in that episode, however, it’s likely that both Zaki and Alana de la Garza, who’s played Isobel since Season 2, weren’t in the episode due to recent budget cuts that reduced the number of episodes FBI actors film each season.
According to a May 2024 report by Deadline, all series regulars on FBI and its spinoff, FBI: Most Wanted, had their guaranteed minimum episodes cut by two episodes for Season 7 and Season 5. (The franchise’s third FBI show, FBI: International, wasn’t affected by the same cuts, according to the magazine.) OA and Isobel aren’t the only FBI cast members to miss an episode in Season 7. John Boyd, who plays Stuart Scola, and Jeremy Sisto, who plays Jeremy Jubal Valentine, were also missing earlier in the season. The slew of missing FBI cast members also comes as CBS canceled two of its three FBI shows: FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International.
News broke in March 2025 that both FBI: Most Wanted, which premiered in 2020, and FBI: International, which premiered in 2021, were set to end with their fifth and fourth seasons, respectively, in May 2025. While CBS didn’t confirm the reason it canceled FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International, it’s assumed the network pulled the plug on the shows to make room for the FBI franchise’s upcoming spinoff, FBI: CIA, which is greenlit for the 2025-2026 primetime season and is set to follow a “dedicated, strait-laced FBI agent and a street-smart CIA agent are part of a new, clandestine taskforce charged with solving and preventing domestic terrorism in and around New York City.”
