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FBI Most Wanted: FBI spinoff in development at CBS

By Brittany Frederick

"A New Dawn" -- When an alt-right provocateur is murdered after giving a speech at a university in New York City, Maggie and OA investigate the school's more extreme political groups and rely on OA's sister, Amira (Cynthia Hamidi), a student, for help, on FBI, Tuesday, Jan. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Sela Ward, Jeremy Sisto, Ebonee Noel. Photo: Michele Crowe/CBS ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"A New Dawn" -- When an alt-right provocateur is murdered after giving a speech at a university in New York City, Maggie and OA investigate the school's more extreme political groups and rely on OA's sister, Amira (Cynthia Hamidi), a student, for help, on FBI, Tuesday, Jan. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Sela Ward, Jeremy Sisto, Ebonee Noel. Photo: Michele Crowe/CBS ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /
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An FBI spinoff is being developed at CBS, with the backdoor pilot for FBI: Most Wanted going to air as an FBI season 1 episode.

Another Dick Wolf franchise is being built at CBS. The network revealed Tuesday that it’s ordered the pilot for an FBI spinoff, before FBI season 1 has even finished.

FBI: Most Wanted will focus on a Federal Bureau of Investigation task force dedicated to finding and stopping criminals on the Bureau’s infamous Most Wanted list.

The show’s first episode will be a backdoor pilot, aired as part of FBI season 1, which means that the new series will have to be off the ground before May.

That’s a tight timeline, because no actors have been found for the project yet. Casting is underway now, based off a pilot script written by Dick Wolf and longtime collaborator Rene Balcer.

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Norberto Barba, who has directed episodes of FBI as well as three Law & Order shows and one of Chicago Justice, will direct the FBI: Most Wanted pilot.

This is a quick turnaround for CBS, which is setting up a spinoff series before the original show has even aired its 13th episode.

However, it’s not entirely unprecedented. The original series was the network’s top new show this season; it has a live audience of 8-9 million people and that number goes up to some 13 million when you factor in people watching after the fact.

With those numbers, networks would naturally be quick to consider a franchise; they’re always looking for the next property that they can build upon, especially when it comes to procedurals, which are relatively easy to spin off.

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And this isn’t the first time Dick Wolf has been quick to start a franchise. This is similar to what happened with the One Chicago franchise: Chicago PD was in development before Chicago Fire finished its first season.

This is big news for anyone who follows the Dick Wolf brand. If FBI: Most Wanted is ordered to series—and it most likely will be, between the current ratings and the fact that CBS has made a pilot commitment, so they’d have to pay Universal Television a penalty if they don’t order the spinoff—it’ll be Wolf’s second spinoff this season alone.

He also has Law & Order: Hate Crimes, which is starting with a backdoor pilot on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit before its first season begins on NBC.

And if the FBI spinoff goes ahead, that would make Wolf a producer with three different franchises on two major networks. There are several producers who have built franchises on TV, but it’s very rare for the same producer to have active franchises on different channels.

Dick Wolf is almost certain to accomplish that before 2019 ends, and that would definitely make him one of the most remarkable producers in all of television history. Stay tuned here for all of the latest details on the newest series in the Wolf Films stable.

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For the latest FBI season 1 spoilers and news, plus more on all of Dick Wolf’s other series, follow the Dick Wolf category at One Chicago Center.

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