This article contains mentions and details of the Uvalde elementary school shooting.
It has now been over four months since the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas led to the indefinite postponement of the episode finale of Season 4 of the crime drama series, FBI. The decision to postpone the episode had been taken out of sensitivity due to its plot similarities with the tragic real-life occurrence. CBS has now revealed that the episode titled 'Prodigal Son' will now be sandwiched between episodes two and three of the ongoing Season 5 and will air on October 4 at 8 p.m.
'Prodigal Son' had been initially scheduled to air on May 24, however, a few hours before it would premiere, the Uvalde shooting happened, and thus the episode was pulled from the lineup. In its stead, the 12th episode titled 'Under Pressure' was aired. The shooting involved an 18-year-old boy who fatally shot and killed 21 people including 19 school pupils and two teachers. The gunman also ended up dead while facing off with responding officers. 'Prodigal Son' was to examine a suspected's student's participation in a deadly robbery that leaves him in possession of automatic weapons. The student happened to be a classmate of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine's son, Tyler. While the original synopsis for the episode remains unchanged, according to Deadline, the episode will not include any "mass shooting, of a school or otherwise.
Though the Season 4 finale did not air, Season 5 premiered its first episode on September 20. Titled Hero's Journey, the episode once again examines Jubal's delicate relationship with his son Tyler who was diagnosed with leukemia in Season 3. Jubal is seen struggling to balance work with his personal life as he is called up to attend to a case of a kidnaped teen on the occasion of Tyler's 15th birthday.
FBI was not the only show to be affected by the tragic Uvalde shooting. Apple TV+ had at the time canceled a red carpet event for Season 2 of its show Physical, "out of respect" for the victims. The cast and creative team would later release a statement revealing that the screening for the show would be done in private without the presence of the press. Earlier in 2020, the aftermath of George Floyd's murder by a police officer led to the cancelation of cop shows Live PD and Cops. The latter would be picked up by Fox New Media a year later. Cops was the longest-running reality show in America before getting axed.
The unchanged synopsis for 'Prodigal Son' reads;
"As the team investigates a deadly robbery that garnered a cache of automatic weapons for the killers, they discover one of the culprits is a classmate of Jubal’s son, who is reluctant to cooperate with the case."
FBI has been renewed for a 6th season. New Episodes of the show air on CBS every Tuesday at 8 p.m. The show is created by Dick Wolf and Craig Turk and stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto, Ebonée Noel, Sela Ward, Alana de la Garza, John Boyd, and Katherine Renee Turner.