‘CIA’ Finale: Tom Ellis & Nick Gehlfuss on Colin’s Quandary & Bill’s Job Offer

It’s a good thing that Colin (Tom Ellis) and Bill (Nick Gehlfuss) are in a good place at the end of CIA Season 1 because the former’s world was completely shaken by the return of his former partner, Toni (Angela Sarafyan), who isn’t actually dead. TV Insider spoke with Ellis and Gehlfuss about that and more. Warning: Spoilers for the CIA Season 1 finale ahead!

Toni was in CIA custody at the end of the episode, having set out to clean up the mole network at Pyramid Security. To say Colin wasn’t happy would be understating the case. Earlier in the episode, he’d told her, via the bug she’d left in his apartment, “I would’ve done anything for you, Toni. But I can’t now can I? Because it’s too late. Too many people have died. When I was sitting there in the wreckage watching you burn, I could’ve fallen apart, but I thought, no, that’s not the man you loved. So I decided in that moment that the only way I could make sense of this, the only way I could make sense of us, was to find the people responsible and to make them pay. I know you always thought of me as a lousy mark, Toni, but I really hope you listen when I say you need to run, you need to run far away, and you never ever come back because if I see you again, I promise you I will kill you.”

Bill, meanwhile, turned down the exact job he’d wanted, an ASAC position in Cleveland, to continue working with the fusion cell and as Colin’s partner.

Below, Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss break down the finale and share their hopes for Season 2.

How is Colin feeling at the end there about his agency keeping Toni in play and having to interact with her going forward?

Tom Ellis: I mean, sadly, I don’t think he’s that surprised, just because he knows how the CIA operates, and it does make a lot of sense if they can reuse her. Honestly, where is Colin’s head at the end of the season? I have no idea because he’s all over the place. And I think that what I am looking forward to is picking up the pieces of broken Glass at the beginning of Season 2, basically. It gives us somewhere to go. But I think he’s sadly not surprised by Toni being brought back in.

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He promised, “I will kill you,” when he spoke into the bug. How much did he mean that?

Ellis: I think he wanted to mean it and I think he’d convinced himself that that’s what he does because as this CIA operative, he’s able to flick a switch and not care. But I think easier said than done in this particular circumstance. And when he’s finally face-to-face with her with a gun in her face, he can’t do it because he still loves her.

What’s Bill seeing in Colin in that moment?

Nick Gehlfuss: Maybe a bit of Colin he’s never seen before. Parts of Colin he was trying to discover or uncover throughout the whole season. But I think obviously Bill was faced with a major decision himself here. I think the title of the episode is aptly inappropriate. It’s “Broken Glass” for a reason. And these guys are clashing the entire episode basically because we’re wrapping up — Colin is involved in this love triangle that Bill, I guess, it becomes really alive when Bill decides to bring Sarah Lloyd [Sarah Diamond] into the undercover operation because that’s our only way in. And so that last moment where he’s got the gun in her face, I’d like to think that Bill has some effect on Colin, and I think they’re learning the benefits of having a partner and how important it is to rely on them in certain situations, especially when you’re at your wits’ end.

But I think that Bill is seeing two things, is understanding that he loves this world more than he thought he would. It’s not going to be easy, but he’s moving on from what he originally thought his future was going to be. And I think in seeing a true partner opposite of him, I think that’s helping him decide that as well.

I was going to bring that up because Bill got that job offer, exactly what he wanted, that ASAC position. And he turns it down and Jubal (Jeremy Sisto) says there are only so many times he can do that. How is Bill feeling about saying no this time? And at this point, can he think of a time when he would want to say yes, considering where he is right now?

Gehlfuss: The whole mole investigation, Bill knew it could be a real career maker for him. So I think when Bill’s proposed with that from the very beginning, it’s driven from that. He doesn’t know Colin. He knows Colin from the operation. We threw a line in there, if there were different times, we could have been friends. And I think he means that, but at that point, they’re not truly invested with one another. So I think it’s part he’s going after this for his career.

And at this point at the end of the season, I think especially given everything that they went through as a team and what they were able to accomplish and the work that still has to be done with this entire mole investigation, Bill’s invested and realizes that he’s damn good at it, can learn a hell of a lot from his partner, can trust his partner at this point, and sees that he has an effect on his partner.

Mark Schafer/CBS

So I think that this is challenging him in new ways and helping him grow because the gray is uncomfortable for him, and the only way he’s going to grow is by leaning into that. There’s opportunity and the discomfort. And so Bill realizes that, and I think it’s also exciting, but I think it’s difficult for him to put aside what felt comfortable and something that he maybe have looked forward to for quite a while in his life.

How does Colin feel about Bill sticking around?

Ellis: I think Colin is very happy about that, but he wouldn’t let Bill know that. [Both laugh]

Gehlfuss: Not yet.

Ellis: No, especially, I really think it’s an interesting dichotomy of a situation for Colin at the end of it because probably one of the very, very few people he truly trusted in his life has done the biggest dirty on him ever. And he’s suddenly looking at that person and then the new person in his life he had no interest in working with, no affiliation with, didn’t trust him, works for an agency that he doesn’t trust, all of those things. I think this entire journey of the first season, you’ve got suddenly Colin sitting there with the person that he used to trust, and now the person he now trusts. And for him, that’s huge currency for Colin because for CIA, for you to trust anybody, you’re talking about a tiny, tiny, tiny inner circle, and Bill is now in that, and Toni used to be, and she ain’t no more.

Mike Weiss told me that after shaking Colin to the core in Season 1, the goal is to do that to Bill in Season 2 and that while Colin will be there for him like Bill was for him, Colin is a purveyor of tough love. So, how do you each think that’s going to go when we have to see Colin being there for Bill?

Gehlfuss: Wow. [Both laugh] I think we’ve seen some of that already, but that’s funny. That’s wild because I thought Bill went on quite a journey this season already. So it intrigues me to wonder where we can go from here. I don’t know. What do you think, Tom?

Ellis: I think both our characters are in very different places where they thought they’d be when we first met them, and that’s going to be fun. It’s like a little bit of role reversal. Colin is very much tough love, so giving advice to Bill about certain things, it may not be delivered in a way that Bill particularly appreciates. But I think what we do have now is there is a genuine affection between these two characters, even if they don’t admit it out loud. But I think that’s a good place for them to feel about each other, given that they’ve both been knocked off their axis.

Gehlfuss: Yeah. Brothers in arms. Well, one of them —

Ellis: Brothers in arms.

Gehlfuss: Although it’s a great moment when Colin has the gun. First time you ever seen him wield a gun and not just on anyone.

Mark Schafer/CBS

True. Colin was forced to tell Sarah the truth about himself. Was he being honest with her when he said none of it was real?

Ellis: No. I don’t think so. I mean, the way that I thought about it and the way that I wanted to play it was there’s so much more that he would’ve wanted to say to her, but he realized the kindest thing to do, and I think in the episode, the lie is the kindness was a big part of that sort of Sandy storyline that in that moment he decides to lie and he decides to put up a barrier and be adamant about it and almost cruel to be kind basically. And no, I think with Colin when he’s working undercover and when he is pretending to be someone else, there’s a very fine line between the truth and what he’s trying to create. And I don’t think that he’s always in control of that. And so there is some seepage of feelings from either side.

I think that through the process with Sarah, he started to really feel things for her. And I think part of that is to do with the fact she’s a very different character to all the other characters in Colin’s life. She represents something that is good and solid and fundamentally kind and all the things that he has the ability to be those things, but his job doesn’t allow him to do that.

I think that operation, whilst he had good intentions going into it, it affected him in a way that he wasn’t expecting at all. And that leads to a bigger question of, is Colin doing the right job still? Is he still as good at this job as what he thought he was and how is he allowing these feelings to affect him? So, yeah, it was an interesting moment. I’m glad that we had that storyline in there because I think that the Sarah character is so vastly different to all these kind of nefarious spy world characters and she is very much an innocent bystander in all of it.

But then she really gets a look at the real Colin in the finale when they have to work together because of that operation. Is there any part of him thinking, maybe I could keep her in my life? Does he want to want to because of having Toni back and how that devolved?

Ellis: I mean, he is in a bit of a quandary by the end of the season, to be honest. It’s like there’s this option, is it an option? And then this was an option that was taken off the table and now it’s back on the table, but it’s not that simple. I think, honestly, the discombobulated Colin that we find at the end of the first season is a great place to be starting Season 2 basically.

Bill’s still lying to Katie (Caroline Pluta). He even does so in the finale once he realizes Toni’s been in his apartment. How is this job changing his perspective of that relationship?

Gehlfuss: Well, besides the fact that he’s having to lie much more and withhold much more than he has, I mean, to a certain extent, FBI have to withhold a little bit from their loved ones, but they know that they’re an FBI agent, and most of those cases make public once they’re closed and justice is served and even get acknowledgement for it. Here, there’s none of that. And Bill obviously doesn’t hang his hat on that. He doesn’t care. That’s not why he’s involved in it. At the end of the day, Bill is totally committed to the people of the country and doing whatever’s necessary to make sure they’re safe. And I think obviously with this new partnership, he’s really enjoying what they’re capable of.

I think that he might be realizing he can’t commit in the same way that he has led Katie to believe. And I think he needs to figure out what he needs to do. I think he’s at a point where he has to figure that out because it’s not right to take someone on this journey if they didn’t sign up for it.

There’s also the matter of Lauren (Molly Griggs) popping back up in his life this season. I feel like there’s no way she doesn’t return in Season 2 because the drama there would just be too juicy.

Gehlfuss: That’s Bill’s love triangle. Colin’s got his, and Bill’s got his own. So yeah, what’s fascinating is that Sarah very much feels like a Midwest sort of family opportunity for Colin. And I mean, that’s what Bill has set himself on and is now realizing maybe he can’t have that because of this job. I mean, the real question is, can you have a family and do this job? Is there balance and room for that or do you have to choose one or the other?

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'CIA' Renewed for Season 2: Cast, Premiere Date, More Details

What do you both hope to explore with this partnership in Season 2?

Gehlfuss: Brand new undercover. How can we totally go against what we both look like just independently, but also what can we create as far as relationships for undercover stories?

Ellis: I definitely can see a Pretty Woman montage happening at some point of Colin taking Bill out to get out of those suits and get into something a bit more appropriate.

Gehlfuss: That’s right. We do see Bill in a brand new color suit in the finale, which is exciting and a pleasure. But yes, going shopping, that would be hilarious.

What are your other hopes for Season 2?

Ellis: I mean, we managed to get some great guest actors this season, I think more power to that. I hope we manage to get some great guests again. I really have enjoyed the fact that we had a serialized element to the season that really helped raise the stakes for our characters. I hope that we have more of that moving forward because I really think that seeing these guys professionally is one thing, but the conflict between their professional and personal life, I think, is something that’s really interesting. And so I think more of that please, is what I hope for.

Gehlfuss: Agreed. Yeah, whenever you can get more of their personal lives and the relationships, all the relationships going on in the world of these two, is what the audience wants to see. They want to be able to relate to it and see how they’re balancing work and personal.

Ellis: And then we leave Colin and Bill in a place where I think they really cemented a trust with each other. So what happens if that trust gets broken?

Gehlfuss: Yeah. Where’s the conflict arise again with this? They can’t just [get along].

CIA, Season 2, Fall 2026, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS

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