Cast of FBI: Most Wanted – Current and Former Actors

Seasons aired: 6 (as of 2025) · Premiere date: January 7, 2020 · Network: CBS · Current lead: Dylan McDermott · Main cast changes: 10+ since 2020 · Upcoming: Season 7 confirmed

The snapshot’s throughline: every stable run on this show has been temporary.

Seven facts frame the whole story: a 2020 debut, one lead change, and a cast that never sits still.

That table reads like a resume, which is fitting: the show has treated its casting slate as a working document since day one.

Who is leaving FBI: Most Wanted?

The confirmed departure is Shantel VanSanten. Her Nina Chase left the fugitive task force after the season 6 finale, and Wikipedia’s FBI: Most Wanted page documents the exit — though CBS has not named a replacement for season 7, and no other main-cast departures have been confirmed as of 2025. Dylan McDermott remains the lead, with Roxy Sternberg and Keisha Castle-Hughes still in the main cast.

Current departures

• Shantel VanSanten (Nina Chase) — left after season 6 (per the series’ Wikipedia entry)
• No replacement announced for season 7 (per Wikipedia’s FBI: Most Wanted page)

Reasons behind exits

• Some exits have been personal; others were framed as creative decisions (per TVFanatic’s franchise analysis)
• The showrunner has said production adapts each time (per Monsters and Critics’ coverage)

The implication: every departure resets the team’s chemistry, and the season 7 vacancy puts the show’s casting strategy back in the spotlight.

Who are the cast members of FBI: Most Wanted season 4?

Season 4 is the hinge of the series’ history: the season the original lead died and the team rebuilt around a newcomer.

Main cast of season 4

• Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott — the lead role, per IMDb’s full credits page
• Roxy Sternberg as Special Agent Sheryll Barnes
• Shantel VanSanten as Special Agent Nina Chase
• Keisha Castle-Hughes as Special Agent Hana Gibson

The transition also included the exit of Miguel Gomez; CinemaBlend’s interview coverage attributed the move to a creative decision.

Recurring and guest stars

• Missy Peregrym (Maggie Bell) and Zeeko Zaki (Omar Adom) have crossed over from the original FBI during franchise event episodes

What this means: the McDermott-led quartet became the show’s longest-serving lineup, and it’s the template the writers keep returning to when the roster shifts.

Why was Jess LaCroix killed off?

Because the actor left, and the writers chose drama over a recast. Julian McMahon played Jess LaCroix for nearly three seasons, and the season 4 premiere killed the character to make room for a new team leader, as CBR’s report on the exit details.

Actor departure

• McMahon left after nearly three seasons on the show
• His exit was described as a move toward additional creative endeavors
• He framed the goal as transitioning the character to a new lead

Storyline rationale

• Killing LaCroix, rather than recasting him, gave the team a clean emotional reset
• The death allowed the show to introduce a new team dynamic around Remy Scott

The trade-off: the show traded its most familiar face for a storytelling reset — and that new dynamic carried it through seasons 5 and 6.

Who are the cast members of FBI: Most Wanted season 5?

Season 5’s cast didn’t change much — and that was the news. After season 4, Alexa Davalos’s Kristin Gaines was written out, and Shantel VanSanten’s Nina Chase became the team’s other senior agent, per SheKnows’ report on the change. The main cast settled into its steadiest configuration: McDermott, Sternberg, VanSanten, and Castle-Hughes.

Main cast of season 5

• Dylan McDermott as Remy Scott
• Roxy Sternberg as Sheryll Barnes
• Shantel VanSanten as Nina Chase
• Keisha Castle-Hughes as Hana Gibson

The Gaines exit wasn’t handled quietly. SheKnows’ report said Davalos was informed on set, after filming her last scene, that she would not be returning.

Changes from season 4

• Kristin Gaines did not return after season 4 (per IMDb’s full credits page)
• No new regulars were added for season 5
• The core four carried the full season

The pattern: one substitution, not a rebuild — a sign the franchise had finally stabilized, at least for one cycle.

Is FBI: Most Wanted cancelled?

No — not as of 2025. CBS renewed FBI: Most Wanted for a seventh season in April 2025, ending months of speculation about the show’s future, per the series’ Wikipedia entry.

Renewal status

• Status: renewed for season 7 (announced April 2025)
• Cancellation: none announced as of 2025
• The show remains part of CBS’s FBI franchise lineup

Part of the reason renewal questions kept surfacing is the churn. Monsters and Critics’ review noted the cast changes piled up over roughly two and a half seasons. Ratings have held steady enough to keep the show inside the franchise rotation.

The catch: renewal isn’t a guarantee of permanence — it’s a vote of confidence in a franchise built on swapping out pieces.

The cast timeline: five moments that explain the rotation

• January 7, 2020 — The series premieres; Julian McMahon leads the original team of Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Nathaniel Arcand.
• Season 2 (2020–2021) — Kellan Lutz’s Kenny Crosby is written out; the actor left in September 2021 to spend more time with his family, per IMDb’s series page.
• September 2022 — The season 4 premiere kills off Jess LaCroix, and Dylan McDermott takes over as Remy Scott (per CBR’s report on the exit).
• Season 5 (2023–2024) — Alexa Davalos’s Kristin Gaines is written out after season 4; Nina Chase steps up.
• Season 6 (2024–2025) — Shantel VanSanten’s Nina Chase departs, leaving a vacancy for season 7.

The pattern: this show doesn’t hold onto ensembles — it refreshes them, and each refresh writes the next chapter.

Separating confirmed cast changes from open questions

Confirmed facts

• The cast has turned over more dramatically than most network procedurals — more than 10 actors have joined or left since 2020, a pattern TVFanatic’s franchise analysis ties to the show’s approach to characters
• Miguel Gomez exited after a creative decision, according to CinemaBlend’s interview coverage

What’s unclear

• Who will replace Nina Chase in season 7
• Whether Kellan Lutz might return as Kenny Crosby
• Whether budget pressure, as TVFanatic has argued, is driving the wider FBI franchise’s revolving door

The takeaway: the confirmed record is long, but the motivations behind each exit are mostly private — and the season 7 roster is still a blank space.

What the cast and showrunner said about the exits

Showrunner David Hudgins said the cast turnover reflected the actors’ own choices and that production had to adapt its plans around each exit, per Monsters and Critics’ coverage of the series.

— David Hudgins, showrunner

Alexa Davalos was reportedly told on set, after filming her last scene, that she would not be returning — a detail that made Kristin Gaines’s exit feel abrupt to viewers tracking the show’s agent changes.

— Reported by SheKnows

The pattern: the people leaving usually go for reasons that have little to do with the case-of-the-week — and the show has learned to write around that.

Why the turnover matters

The rotation isn’t a flaw; it’s the show’s operating system. FBI: Most Wanted is less about a team than about a job — a fugitive task force that keeps getting new faces, with each new agent changing how the unit works. For CBS, the decision is clear: keep betting on a rotating cast and the procedural format that survives it, or risk viewers who keep losing the characters they came back for.

Frequently asked questions

The takeaway: the questions that matter most are about the future, not the past — and Dylan McDermott’s Remy Scott will enter season 7 with one seat still empty.

Related reading

• Cast of Black Bird: the true story behind the cast
• Cast of Drop (Film) 2025

If you’re tracking another ensemble, the cast of Black Bird and the cast of Drop (Film) 2025 offer the same kind of turnover story.