'CIA' star Tom Ellis drops bombshell reason why he stayed away from 'FBI': I know what they do'

Tom Ellis has a compelling reason why he refrained from watching most of FBI before filming his new spinoff CIA.

CIA, an American police procedural television series created by Dick Wolf and David Hudgins, was released on February 23, 2026, on CBS.

Before the release of the series, Ellis, who is depicting Colin Glass, had a conversation with Us Weekly.

The renowned Welsh actor admitted that he “certainly wanted to keep it separate because it is a very different agency and they run very differently and they operate very differently. The fun of the clash actually plays out better the less I know about FBI and what they do.”

But rather than keeping himself completely detached from the show, he “watched a little bit.”

“Obviously, I’ve been aware of the shows and of the Dick Wolf TV kingdom for years and years and years,” however, he avoided getting involved deeper into the show.

“We do cross-pollinate a little bit. But it’s two shows. I wouldn’t say they’re spinoff shows so much as two shows that really complement each other,” the Tell Me Lies star explained.

Also, Ellis noticed a drastic difference while comparing CIA with FBI as “FBI deals in crimes that have already happened predominantly and the CIA try to stop the crime from happening in the first place.”

“FBI is a very public present arm of the law enforcement. They’re the poster boy of U.S. law enforcement. And the CIA is very much in the shadows — and doesn’t want to be on any poster. It doesn’t want people to see who they are and they operate in a very sort of voyeuristic manner,” he clarified.

It is pertinent to note that FBI, which first started in 2019 on CBS, is about the agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York City.

As the show became a major success, CBS also released FBI: Most Wanted, Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fugitive Task Force, and FBI: International spinoff.