CBS has announced that Shantel VanSanten will reprise her role as Special Agent Nina Chase on FBI. VanSanten's return was confirmed by TVLine, who revealed that we'll see Nina return on-screen on November 16 in an episode directed by Milena Govich.
According to TVLine, the official synopsis for the episode, titled "Posterity," reads: "After the murder of an online influencer, the team discovers that one of their cameras captured video of a criminal on the Most Wanted list. The team works alongside Special Agent Nina Chase (Shantel VanSanten) to intercept him before he disappears."
We last saw Special Agent Chase in season 8, when the character worked a case with the FBI crew. Nina went undercover to recruit a prominent member of a cartel family in exchange for witness protection. At the end of the episode, the team attended Scola and Nina's wedding ceremony.
Season 9, episode 5 set the stage for Nina's return through her new job offer. In the episode, Scola told the team that Nina had been offered a job leading her own task force. The catch? The job is in San Diego. Scola initially opposed the job, fearing the distance would strain his family. Or worse, force him to leave a job he loves. However, after talking to his partner Eva, he called Nina and encouraged her to take the new position.
If Nina takes the so-called "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," the decision could heavily impact her family's future.
Notably, VanSanten has made it clear that she is always willing to return to FBI. She said in a February 2026 interview with TVLine, "All the fans of the show can say all the things they want because I know that everyone is listening, the powers that be. I never thought they would get married, and people have been saying they wanted it for years, so you never know! I'm around. [To Boyd] Maybe you'll let Nina be on another case if it's not risky! Yeah, you never know."
This isn't a surprise given the actress's history with the Dick Wolf franchise. VanSanten was a series regular on FBI: Most Wanted for two years before it was cancelled in 2025. The show followed the high-stakes world of the FBI unit responsible for tracking and capturing some of the country's most ruthless criminals. Late actor Julian McMahon helmed the show for the first three seasons, before Dylan McDermott took over for seasons 4-6.
It'll certainly be interesting to see where the episode takes VanSanten's character and whether we might get to see her appear in more episodes beyond her appearance in the November 16 episode.
FBI airs every Monday at 8/7c on CBS.
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