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CBS canceled FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International in March 2025, and the network’s stated reason was economic. CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach said the shows’ deals did not work financially for the network. Most Wanted ended after six seasons and International after four, so neither returned for the 2025–26 season. The flagship FBI series was not affected.
What CBS said
CBS did not cite low audiences as the reason. At its May 7, 2025 fall-schedule presentation, Reisenbach tied the decision to the network’s finances. In TVLine’s report of the event, which placed her remarks in a discussion of The Equalizer‘s cancellation, she said:
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“We have to be fiscally responsible, and ultimately those deals and the shows just weren’t penciling out for us for an economic perspective.”
She also described how CBS weighs its whole slate when it decides what to keep:
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“It’s never easy to end shows. We had a lot of options this year, and the schedule is really full. So we always have to look at all of our shows, look at the aggregate, the creative, where they are in their life cycle, what the finances look like, what the ratings are…. And we make those tough decisions.”
Both quotations come from TVLine’s May 7, 2025 coverage. Reisenbach’s explanation is the only official statement on the reasons that the reporting cites. It describes the deals’ economics in general terms, not with figures.
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Were the ratings bad?
Not by the standard of most cable or broadcast dramas. The two spinoffs drew a substantial audience, but their numbers were moving down. The figures below come from TVLine, a trade publication, and are not CBS data.
| Source (date) | Season measured | Most Wanted | International | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVLine cancellation report (March 4, 2025) | Previous season, as reported in March | About 6.5 million viewers | About 6.53 million viewers | Down 10% for each show |
| TVLine summary (May 7, 2025) | 2024–25 season, with delayed playback included | About 6.5 million viewers per show | About 6.5 million viewers per show | Down about 9% for both |
The two TVLine articles differ in how they describe the decline. The March report gave series-specific figures and a 10% drop for each show. The May summary used a 9% figure for both shows over the 2024–25 season, and it counted delayed viewing. The two numbers should not be combined or treated as a single measurement. Neither article describes the measurement method in detail.
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Modest declines do not explain a cancellation on their own. A show drawing millions of viewers per episode can still be expensive to keep on the schedule, and that is the question CBS said it was weighing.
Costs and the studio relationship
TheWrap reported in March 2025 that the shows were produced by Universal Television, an outside studio rather than CBS, and that rising production costs in Hollywood have made long-running series harder to keep on the air. Those are industry-level points. They describe the environment in which the decision was made.
TVLine also relayed a suggestion from Deadline that difficult renewal negotiations between CBS and NBCUniversal, which supplies the shows through Universal Television, may have contributed. This is a reported possibility, not a confirmed account. The coverage does not establish a specific contract dispute, the cost per episode, or how each show’s licensing income compared with its expenses. Anyone who needs those details will have to look for documentation that has not been published.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The FBI franchise after the cancellations
The cancellations did not end the franchise. TheWrap reported that the original FBI had already been renewed through the 2026–27 season. A new series, tentatively titled FBI: CIA, was in development. CBS’s plan to add a franchise show gives context for the schedule, but the reporting does not show that CIA was made to replace the two canceled shows, and it does not establish that scheduling was the reason for either decision.
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The network’s support for the franchise had also been public before. A 2022 CBS release, reported by Paramount Press Express on May 9, 2022, announced two-season renewals for the three FBI dramas and described them as successful. The 2025 cancellations therefore came after a period of network backing, not as the end of a steady decline.
Timeline of the decision
- March 24, 2021: CBS announced the franchise launch in a Paramount Press Express release, which also identified the production credits.
- May 9, 2022: CBS announced two-season renewals for the FBI series.
- March 4, 2025: CBS announced that Most Wanted and International would not return. At that point Most Wanted was in its sixth season and International in its fourth.
- May 7, 2025: At the fall-schedule presentation, Reisenbach gave the economic explanation and described CBS’s decision criteria.
Where to watch
A 2025 report said episodes of both spinoffs were available on Paramount+ the day after their CBS broadcasts. That information comes from March 2025 and does not show current availability. Check the Paramount+ catalog before assuming any season is streaming.
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