Why Was FBI: INTERNATIONAL Canceled? Co-Creator Says …

Published: June 25, 2025

marija-zaric-UwGFhlEref8-unsplash — Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

By India McCarty

FBI: INTERNATIONAL’s co-creator Derek Haas shared his thoughts on the “sad” cancellation of the crime procedural.

“I was so sad to hear about the cancellation,” Haas told TV Line, adding that he has “no insight into why it was cancelled.”

Haas continued, “I love Amy [Reisenbach] and [EVP of current programming] Eric [Kim] over at CBS plus all my good friends at Wolf [Entertainment], and trust their instincts. So they must’ve had reasons that had nothing to do with the quality of the show.”

#FBIInternational cocreator Derek Haas said he has “no insight” into why the police procedural was canceled. https://t.co/pg5dYWD0r2

— TV Insider (@TVInsider) June 23, 2025

Reisenbach, chief of CBS Entertainment, made similar comments when asked about the cancellation of both FBI: INTERNATIONAL and FBI: MOST WANTED, saying the network had to be “fiscally responsible.”

“Ultimately those deals and the shows just weren’t penciling out for us for an economic perspective. It’s never easy to end shows, and we had a lot of options this year,” she continued. “We always have to look at all of our shows, look at the aggregate information. The creative, where they are in their life cycle, what the finances look like, what the ratings are — and we make those tough decisions.”

While Haas might be mourning the loss of FBI: INTERNATIONAL, he has a new show to focus on: Amazon Prime’s COUNTDOWN.

“I’d written novels before, and I wanted this to be almost like chapters in a book,” Haas told TV Line of the crime drama. “That way it could be a story that had an ever-evolving threat — and twists and turns within that threat — but you could spend time with the antagonists, which is something that we rarely did on those other shows, and then also get to know this team over a longer period of time as the case evolves.”

Haas also shared that he wanted to do some things “differently than a lot of shows in this genre do…I wanted to surprise the audience with when this case is going to end.”

“A lot of times on shows like this, you think the end of the season will be the end of that case, but I don’t want the audience thinking that they can take some time off and then catch up later,” he explained. “No, you’ve got to be along for the ride.”

FBI: INTERNATIONAL’s cancellation might have been disappointing to Haas and the show’s fans, but it looks like he’s ready to start fresh with COUNTDOWN.

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