The final moments of the “FBI: Most Wanted” Season 6 premiere found Fugitive Task Force leader Remy Scott (Dylan McDermott) breaking down after apprehending — and being attacked by — a serial killer who’d escalated to a sniper shooting spree.
“I wanted to start the season with a very scary, terrifying, dangerous, formidable fugitive,” showrunner David Hudgins told TheWrap of the psychotically mother-obsessed killer played by Andrew Burnap.
As for showing Remy recovering from his injuries and being comforted by girlfriend Abby (Susan Misner), Hudgins said, “I wanted to ground the show, because the truth is, this is a dangerous job. And it’s not often that you go unscathed your whole career. I thought it was a nice moment of vulnerability for him with Abby as well.”
Remy will be fine after being punched in the jaw and rouged up, Hudgins assured us, walking away with merely a temporary case of tinnitus.
Hudgins also talked about when we can expect the return of Sheryll Barnes (Roxy Sternberg) — look for her in Episode 4 – and some of the storylines we’ll see in Season 6, including more crossovers with “FBI” character Stuart Scola (John Boyd) and girlfriend Nina Chase (Shantel VanSanten).
TheWrap: How is Barnes doing after her divorce?
David Hudgins: Barnes has a really interesting season ahead of her. Her kids are down in D.C., living with her wife. They’re doing the shared custody thing. But I think for Barnes this year, it’s really a question of, “Who am I?” She’s no longer a wife. She’s single. And rather than wallow in pity, we’re going to have some fun with Barnes. She’s going to meet people. She’s going to try new things. She’s going to get a tantalizing job offer, but at the end of the day she realizes what makes her happy is getting bad guys off the street.
And we’re getting to meet Nina’s family? How does that go?
Last year we explored her [relationship with] Scola. He’s crossing over, throughout the season. They’re raising their baby and not married, but she’s got a very traditional father down in Houston, and a sister who comes to visit early in the season. And it causes problems. There’s a lot baggage from Nina’s youth that gets unpacked. And Scola being in the mix, he’s kind of a blue blood and her father is not. So there’s some immediate conflict there.
What’s going on with Hana (Keisha Castle-Hughes) this season?
Hana is still with Ethan, her Air Marshal guy (Michael Raymond-James). She is always sort of reluctant to be in a relationship. She’s very guarded. And so she struggles with, “Do I take the leap with this guy or not?” She does, of course, and finds out a big secret about him and it turns into an arc there.
You said the premiere was loosely based on the University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Do you have more episodes coming up based on actual crimes?
We’re doing an episode about the 40th anniversary of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department killed 11 people and bombed a house and it was very complicated and terrible.
We’ve got an episode where the team has to go to a small town. It’s being controlled by one of these rogue sheriff’s gangs, and they actually put themselves in jeopardy.
We’re doing an episode about deepfakes and AI in a high school setting, inspired by a real case where a victim committed suicide. That’s a really emotional one.
Do you remember the GardaWorld heist out here in L.A. earlier this year? It was a nondescript building in downtown L.A.. It wasn’t a bank, but it had all the money, and it got robbed by a very sophisticated gang of thieves. We’re doing a riff on that, kind of an “Ocean’s Eleven”-type bank robbery episode with tons of action. It’s really fun. It was very expensive, but it was worth it.
