FBI explained what happened to Sydney Ortiz, so how did they write off this short-lived character?
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for FBI Season 7, Episode 9
As Season 7 of FBI began, it was confirmed that Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane) was leaving the FBI, feeling guilty over losing a partner in Season 6. That left her regular partner, Stuart Scola (John Boyd), needing a new partner.
After a few brief fill-ins, Scola seemed to get a regular new partner in Sydney Ortiz (Lissette Olivera). A member of the Behavioral Crimes Unit, Sydney worked with the team to find a killer targeting her sister. She impressed them enough to join full-time.
It was expected that Olivera would be a regular face on the show and Boyd talked about working with her. That’s why it was a shock when it was announced that Olivera was already leaving the show before her debut episode even aired.
The reasons appear to be that Olivera came off as too young and not believable as a top FBI agent. It appears to be done on good terms as Olivera hasn't been bad-mouthing the show. It was nothing pesonal for her, it was simply the character not clicking with the rest of the cast as hoped for.
That meant the show had to quickly explain her absence, so how was it done?
How was Sydney written out of FBI?
Episode 9 opened with Scola’s love, Nina Chase (Shantel VanSanten), taking a break from FBI: Most Wanted to drop in at the office. She talked about how she wished she could have met Sydney, confirming she was gone.
Scola explained that Sydney had “impressed some of the big wigs” and thus been taken for a top assignment in Washington D.C. It was a brief line so throwaway that it could have easily been missed on first viewing.
This continues a sad trend of other Dick Wolf series of weakly writing off characters with barely any explanation. At least with Sydney, she was only around for a couple of episodes, so it’s not like this handwaved explanation was a disservice to her. It does seem the writers regretted having to get rid of her as she’s given a good departure saying she was so skilled that she was needed for a bigger job.
Given how quickly the actress came and went, this was probably the best we were going to get for explaining her exit. Yet it can be annoying Scola is once more partnerless for a bit.
Who’s joining Scola in FBI season 7?
Thankfully, Scola won’t be without a partner for long. TVLine reported that Magnum P.I. actress Emily Alabi will be coming in Season 7 as a yet-unnamed new agent and potentially a new partner. Before that, Scola will be partnering up with Maggie and OA on cases.
The actor teased other storylines with TV Insider which includes a case that delves deep into Scola’s past.
"We’re doing a really interesting episode right now about a case that takes place at Scola’s old high school. We find out that his parents sent him to a military school upstate because they wanted to punish him, but there’s some really dark things uncovered about the school and Scola navigating it. It’s an OA [Zeeko Zaki] and Scola partnership episode, and it’s really about friendship and it’s cool. I’m excited for people to see it."
This can be good as we don’t know as much about Scola’s life as we’d like. We know he lost a brother on 9/11 and the latest episode had an emotional moment of Scola learning his brother’s remains had finally been identified. He’s also bonding with Nina, who was there to help him out in his grief.
Scola might also pop up on FBI: Most Wanted, as a recent episode ended with Nina learning her sister was in the hospital after being beaten by her husband. Nina and her estranged father looked to reunite in their mutual anger at the man and Scola may help Nina through this.
So while Sydney’s exit on FBI was short, we can look forward to more of Scola and a new partner in Season 7.
FBI Season 7 airs Tuesdays at 8/7 on CBS.