FBI star John Boyd is excited for Scola and Nina’s future on the CBS series after their emotional and vulnerable moment on screen this week.
Warning: Spoilers below from FBI season 7, episode 9.
During the Tuesday, January 28, episode of FBI, Special Agent Stuart Scola (Boyd) helped thwart a would-be terrorist attack after Bolivian extremists virtually commandeered several planes. The case hit close to home for Scola, whose brother, Doug, was killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Once Scola and his team saved a commercial airliner from being shot down by the government for flying into illegal airspace (all while the terrorists were in control of the vessel) he confronted his own demons.
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Scola revealed during the final moments of the episode that he had received a letter from the government related to his brother’s death. Instead of reading it alone, he asked his partner, Nina Chase (Shantel VanSanten), to do it for him.
“That was such an important thing in the scene,” Boyd, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly of the moment that Scola let his walls down and leaned on Nina. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, it would be so interesting if Nina read what that letter was.’ And sure enough, I got the first draft and that’s exactly what [the writers had] been planning on doing the whole time.”
Scola and Nina learned in the letter that the government had finally found his brother’s remains, finally allowing his family some closure after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Fans previously learned that Doug’s death was a big reason why Scola left Wall Street for the FBI.)
“The vulnerability in asking [Nina] is so important because it shows that he’s ready, that he has family,” Boyd explained, noting that Scola has come a long way since fans first met him.
He said, “The old Scola was so angered. He was so mad at the loss of what happened, the senselessness of that tragedy. And he’s at a place now I think where he’s able to ask his partner for help.” Boyd noted that his character is “growing up a little bit” and he’s finally “OK.”
Scola and Nina began dating during season 4 of FBI, when Nina joined the cast. In 2023, during season 5 of the flagship series, the TV couple welcomed a son named Dougie, after Scola’s late brother.
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Nina later moved over to FBI: Most Wanted full time during its fifth season in February 2024. Since then, the couple have crossed over to each other’s shows. According to Boyd, the crossovers will continue during the second half of Most Wanted season 6 and FBI season 7.
“Everything’s settled in nicely enough,” Boyd told Us of the couple’s next steps. “We’ve got some closure around his brother [so] we’re [now] ready for things to get shaken up.”
The actor teased that he doesn’t know what that means exactly, but noted that fans shouldn’t “get too comfortable because anything can happen.”
While Scola and Nina aren’t engaged, Boyd said nuptials are not off the table. “I think every relationship has its own way of doing and being what it is,” he said, playing coy about a possible wedding for the pair. “So whatever the future has in store for them. If we wanted to tell that story that it would — they could do it in a way that was them.”
Boyd added that although a marriage hasn’t been written into his character’s story line just yet, viewers will see him on Most Wanted later this season.
“I’m going over to Most Wanted. I don’t have the script yet [but] I heard a little bit about it,” he shared. “It sounds great. It’s gonna be family stuff. I think it’s more of Nina’s family and me being there for that.”
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Nina, meanwhile, will be back later on in season 7 of FBI for another Scola-centered episode.
“We’re doing an episode now about Scola’s upbringing. We find out that Scola actually attended a military school that his parents sent him to upstate [New York],” Boyd told Us in January. “You find out more about his childhood, how he was kind of, like, you know, going down the wrong path.”
He called the upcoming episode “super dark” and filled with “really intense” revelations about the military school.
“It’s really a great, great episode,” Boyd concluded. “I’m excited about it.”
FBI airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
