FBI will deliver its anticipated season 6 finale later tonight, and it promises to be an occasion that fans won’t want to miss. The heartbreaking death of Agent Trevor Hobbs in the first episode of the season sent fans reeling, and the passing of their friend and teammate has had a major effect on the team in a number of ways, especially as they continue to try and find his killer. At the center of that search for justice is Agent Jubal Valentine, played by the talented Jeremy Sisto. ComicBook had the chance to speak to Sisto all about the finale and how Jubal and Tiffany have tried to process Hobbs’ death and how that’s affected their hunt for the person responsible.
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Hobbs’ death took many fans by surprise, and his passing had a profound effect on the characters as well, especially Tiffany. “Yeah, I think what was surprising to a lot of us was the impact it would have on Tiffany, and I don’t think we were aware that their friendship was so close because it happened away from the office,” Sisto said. “And so we, as people in law enforcement and people with jobs that have life and death stakes, we’re accustomed to our Agents having to manage the trauma that sometimes we go through doing the job. And it is always a question, you don’t want, in a civilized society, you don’t want the victims to be the ones that are enforcing the law or prosecuting the bad guys.”
“So you’ve got to make sure you are not acting as a player from the place of a victim. You’re not acting with vengeance. And sometimes when that happens, the agent will, if you’re really in a place of, ‘I want vengeance and that’s what I’m fully about right now,’ you can be in denial both to yourself and more importantly to your bosses, and it’s the boss’s job to figure out whether or not the agent is being honest and whether they are self-aware enough to know what’s really going on,” Sisto said.
This story has also been a spotlight for Katherine Renee Turner, and she’s knocked it out of the park. “And so Katherine has had a season to process all of those emotions and this trauma and the guilt, and she’s such a great actress that it’s made it a very impactful storyline,” Sisto said.
Making the grieving process even more difficult is a level of guilt that Tiffany feels about what led to Hobbs being in that situation in the first place. Jubal is also grieving, but past situations have helped him find ways to compartmentalize. While it would be incredibly easy for both to shift into purely vengeful places, there’s faith in both to not let that happen.
“So yeah, that’s an interesting point. Hobbs’ death did come after Tiffany was encouraged by Jubal to tell more… But after the situation ended, Jubal and Isobel considered the factors and considered the case and came to the conclusion that she didn’t do anything wrong. So you really have to be able to compartmentalize, and in general, Jubal is good at that. He’s had complicated situations in the past where it’s been quite challenging to be self-aware enough to understand whether he was acting in his right mind or out of trauma,” Sisto said.
“And so he is practiced at that, and the fact that the situation was one step removed because he wasn’t the one going through it, he wasn’t there at the scene, he’s able to see clearly that it wasn’t her fault. And the death of Hobbs was very upsetting to him, for sure, but it wasn’t the same level of trauma that Tiffany went through,” Sisto said.
“And Jubal has real faith in Tiffany, really. He feels that she not only is a great Agent, but is a self-aware person, someone that he can rely on being able to come to him if anything’s going on and be straight up about what’s going on with her,” Sisto said. “But there is also protocol and there’s other people to consider. I think Isobel might be more… It falls on her shoulders more because she’s the big boss, so in some ways I think Jubal would even stay out of this. I think he trusts that Tiffany would come forward if she needed to be pulled, but it’s very important, Isobel’s job, to make sure that’s the case, and so he’s charged with getting a little bit more of a direct answer.” You can find the official description for tonight’s season finale below.
“Ring of Fire” – The Somalian terrorist group behind the death of Agent Hobbs resurfaces, sending the team on a chase to take them down for good, on the sixth season finale of the CBS Original series FBI, Tuesday, May 21 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs)*.
Are you excited for the FBI season finale? You can talk all things TV with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
