When FBI returns in the fall, it’s not only at a new time (Mondays at 8/7c, just like the finale), but it’s also going to see a major shake-up for the team to kick off Season 9. One of its team members, Special Agent Omar Adom “OA” Zidan (Zeeko Zaki) was fired in the Season 8 finale, but, as the last scene revealed, it was so he could go undercover to take down the shady Anna (Claire Coffee) and her strike team.
OA’s partner, Special Agent Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym), previously went undercover near the end of a season and was back with the team when the next season premiered. But OA will be right in it with his new gig when Season 9 premieres in the fall.
“We might see him standing in some different rooms at the beginning of Season 9, which I think will be really exciting, letting him and the show shake things up at the top of Season 9. We’re really excited to see him deep undercover in a different way,” showrunner Mike Weiss told TV Insider after the finale.
He also said that while it was only Maggie and Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille (Alana De La Garza) who knew what was really going on, the others would have been read in by the Season 9 premiere.
“I think it’ll be fun to see Scola eventually be like, ‘Hey man, that really sucked how you didn’t trust me enough to tell me where you were going.’ And it’s like, ‘Hey, it was happening fast, and I’m sorry, I hope you can still trust me,’” Weiss said. “And we know that Scola [John Boyd], Eva [Juliana Aidén Martinez], Jubal [Jeremy Sisto], the JOCulars, they’re all going to trust OA, but I do think that it’ll be interesting to see a little bit of the fallout of this secret ripple over the course of the first section of Season 9.”
The mention of “the first section of Season 9” suggests that this won’t be an assignment that’s just brushed aside. It also could mean that we could see OA separated from the team for an episode or longer, then the storyline continues when he once again has his badge — he was really fired, as Assistant Director Green (Curtiss Cook) does not know what’s going on — and is back with the team.
As much as we’d hate to see OA and Maggie apart for too long — they’re one of the best duos on a procedural on TV right now — it would be interesting to see him remain undercover for a few episodes with limited, but not zero, contact with his team. The aftermath, with his return to the FBI, could then cover an episode or two as well, with, say, his first case back seeing him partnered, as usual, with Maggie, then his second be him and Scola.
What do you want to see from OA’s new undercover assignment? Let us know in the poll and comments section below.
FBI, Season 9, Fall 2026, Mondays, 8/7c, CBS