Inside Line: Scoop on Chicago Fire, Doctor Who, Criminal Minds, Evil, Ghosts, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Fire Country, Whose Line, The Old Man and More!

Matt Webb Mitovich
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What “revelations” does the Chicago Fire finale have on tap? Where in the world is Criminal Minds‘ Will? Will Fire Country ever stop at the barber? Read on for answers to those questions and many more! (You can and should email brand-new Qs to InsideLine@tvline.com.)

Any insight on what the future holds for Chicago Fire‘s Boden? –Joseph
Fire‘s farewell to Eamonn Walker’s Boden will kick off with “a call that happens early in the [finale],” which has “a big impact on Boden’s choices, as will the 51 family’s reaction to everything going on at the top of the CFD ranks,” showrunner Andrea Newman previews. As an especially tightknit group, “everyone at 51 has a profound reaction to the idea that there might be changes when it comes to their beloved Chief Boden.” Adds Newman: “Eamonn Walker was the first actor cast on Chicago Fire, and Chief Boden’s importance to the family of Firehouse 51 cannot be overstated. The finale attempts to address all of that, from both Boden and the firehouse’s perspective.”

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Any scoop about the Chicago Fire finale? –Amaani
“There are some surprising turns and revelations on the relationship front, and almost every relationship on the show comes out of the finale changed in one way or another, for better and for worse!” showrunner Andrea Newman tells TVLine. For Stella and Severide, in particular, “the revelation(s) definitely affect both their personal and their professional life, in major ways.” Hmm, could it be related to what Severide went through in Episode 11, which will have “emotional fallout for Severide… but it shows itself in surprising ways.”

Unless I missed it, the latest Doctor Who didn’t have any mentions of The Oldest One or The One Who Waits. Any scoop on those characters? –Craig
To be clear, “they’re the same thing,” says showrunner Russell T Davies. “The Oldest One is The One Who Waits. They’ve been waiting for so long, they aged! But there is a big payoff on that [this season], yes, yes, yes.”

Is Sarah Drew’s Mistletoe Murders a regular TV series or TV-movie series? –Drew
I can confirm that the newly announced Hallmark Channel project is a TV series, with a first-season order of six episodes.

What’s happening with the Tony and Ziva series? –Elaine
Production on NCIS: Tony & Ziva begins this summer, starting in Budapest, but maybe, just maybe, an NCIS Season 22 episode will pointedly tee up this Paramount+-exclusive offshoot. “Let’s put it this way: I would love to do that,” NCIS co-showrunner Steven D. Binder told me, “and I have a feeling Michael [Weatherly] would be up for anything like that. I’m open to any ideas anybody has. They are totally welcome to throw them at me.”

If you can get any intel about what’s coming up on Evil, that would be awesome!! –Lori
This is the good-n-evil word from TVLine Editor in Chief Kim Roots: “What I’ve seen of the new season (premiering Thursday, May 23) so far is stellar. Something happens near the end of Episode 4 that made me audibly gasp and wonder, ‘He’s not going to… wait, is he going to?’ Also: A storyline I was sure was never going to be revisited, gets revisited.”

Now that 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star will be airing again at the same time, but on different nights and networks, is there any hope for a crossover? –Deb
I brought your Q to Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, who said he is “not aware” of any plans to do so.

Any information on what we can expect from Criminal Minds‘ JJ in the field this season? –Kate
I don’t know if this falls under “in the field” per se, but you should be very excited by the closing scene of Episode 1.

Is there anything that can be said about the absence of Will this season of Criminal Minds? Will it be explained thoroughly, or will his character still be “there” just in passing comments? –Mariah
I am a couple of episodes into the new season, and thus far Will has been… busy with work.

What day does The Rookie start filming in June? –Shauna
Even though the ABC procedural won’t be returning with Season 7 until the year 2025, “Early June, we get right back into it,” showrunner Alexi Hawley told me.

Are there any updates on Jeff Bridges’ FX series, The Old Man? It was renewed for Season 2 after its June 2022 premiere. –James
We’re still waiting on a premiere date, but series lead Jeff Bridges and EP Warren Littlefield had plenty to tease when I chatted with them on the red carpet at the Disney Upfronts. Bridges said that Season 2 picks up just weeks later and will be “upping the ante” as his and John Lithgow’s characters go “looking for our daughter — either Angela or Emily, depending on who you’re asking! But we’re traveling all over the world this season,” he said, including to Hong Kong, England and Afghanistan. “It’s a father’s quest to get his daughter and bring her to safety,” said Littlefield.

Did CBS ever officially announce cancelling Tough as Nails? –Bill
Nope; the story instead is that the Phil Keoghan-hosted series is simply “off cycle” this summer.

Will we see any hints that Ghosts‘ Hetty and Trevor may still be into each other? –Anonymous
Surveying that prospect with an eye on next season, co-showrunner Joe Port told TVLine, “I think they’re kind of a combustible union, and we saw that in the course of their relationship, but they definitely have a lot of things in common and shared passions, even though they seem kind of from very different eras, of course. Never say never, but we’ll see.”

Is there a chance that Noah Wyle will show up on The CW’s new Librarians series? –J.R.
Hmmm, I’d plan on being content with Christian Kane’s guest-starring encore. As Brad Schwartz, president of CW entertainment, explained to us, “There were some early conversations of, ‘Do we go to [Noah Wyle] to figure out some sort of hand-off from the old to the new…?’ I forget where we ended up on all of that, but he definitely didn’t pass [on any invite]. I think we just ended up going in a different direction.”

Has Whose Line Is It Anyway? aired its final episodes, or does the CW still have some to air? –Tara
As revealed by The CW’s fall schedule, Whose Line will be airing new episodes this fall, on Fridays at 8/7c. “This is a Part B of the last season,” Brad Schwartz, president of CW entertainment, clarified for TVLine. “It’s all new episodes, but stuff that was shot during the last cycle.”

Will S.W.A.T.‘s new season be on a short one again? –Jesse
Au contraire. Though Season 8 very much almost didn’t happen, showrunner Andrew Dettman told me he “plans to do 22” episodes, “which will take us to 163,” total.

Will Rafael de la Fuente be back on Fire Country next season? –Larissa 
“We’ll see some Diego…,” showrunner Tia Napolitano affirms. For one, “We’ve got to find out how that wedding ended, don’t we?”

Will Fire Country‘s Bode ever get a haircut? –Sue
Oh man, how showrunner Tia Napolitano laughed when I read off your question. “I’m not sure if we’re going to change Bode’s look,” she said after composing herself, adding, “That’s a Max decision” — as in series star Max Thieriot’s capacity as a fellow executive producer.

Will we be getting a full-season order for The Irrational to pair with the previously confirmed 22-episode order for Found’s sophomore year? –Mason
Jeff Bader, President of Program Planning Strategy for NBCUniversal Entertainment, confirmed for Inside Line that Jesse L. Martin’s The Irrational has an 18-episode Season 2 order.

Do YOU want scoop/have questions about a favorite show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com! Questions plopped in Comments will not be read and may very well count against your final score. (With additional reporting by Vlada Gelman and Kim Roots)

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