Today, CBS announced the first five episodes of FBI TRUE. This docuseries takes viewers into some of the most significant and astonishing cases in FBI history through the eyes of the agents who were there.
FBI TRUE will debut on CBS Tuesday, October 3 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) and is available to stream on Paramount+.
FBI TRUE pulls no punches as the agents share emotional stories. They relive the heart-stopping moments of their most significant cases, revealing new details of how they foiled major criminal and terrorist plots.
Each week, FBI TRUE introduces audiences to courageous agents who took significant personal risks in the line of duty. Each episode focuses on a single case or two cases where agents had to make hair-trigger decisions where lives hung in the balance.
The docuseries is from executive producers Craig Turk’s Thinking Hat Productions, Anne Beagan’s Anne Beagan Productions, and Shawn Efran’s Efran Films Canada. Turk is co-creator of CBS’ hit drama FBI, Beagan is a veteran FBI Special Agent-turned-producer, and Efran is an award-winning former 60 MINUTES producer.
Azadeh De Leon and 12-time Emmy-winner Solly Granatstein are executive producers. The docuseries is being made in association with CBS and Paramount Global’s SEE IT NOW STUDIOS. Susan Zirinsky is the president, and Terence Wrong is the senior executive producer.
Additional episode airdates, which include never-before-seen episodes, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Upcoming episodes include agents from the Ruby Ridge standoff giving viewers insider accounts never before heard, the race to catch a terrorist who planted a truck bomb in Times Square in 2010, and the mole hunt leading to FBI agent Robert Hanssen, the spy who betrayed his country and sold America’s secrets.
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FBI TRUE’s format features legendary FBI Special Agents, who sit with their fellow agents to share their stories over drinks. Loglines for the October episodes of FBI TRUE follow:
TUESDAY, OCT. 3 (9:01-10:00 PM, ET/PT) CBS’ Premiere Episode (10th Anniversary of this Case)
“Boy in the Bunker” – The FBI Hostage Rescue Team must save a 5-year-old boy from Jimmy Lee Dykes, an armed killer who takes the child off a school bus after shooting the driver. Dykes holds him captive in a carefully constructed bunker filled with explosives in rural Alabama.
This episode explores the heart-stopping moment-by-moment series of decisions made by FBI profiler Molly Amman from the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico and Hostage Rescue Team leader Bill Francis. Amman and Francis sit down with fellow agent Cindy Coppola to reflect on this remarkable case.
TUESDAY, OCT. 10 (9:01-10:00 PM, ET/PT) **Two Back-to-Back Cases Comprise the Full Hour
“The Manhattan Bomber” – A search ensues after a homemade bomb explodes in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 30 people. When multiple additional bombs are discovered across Manhattan and New Jersey, the FBI works with local law enforcement to track down a suspect who comes to be known as “The Chelsea Bomber.”
It culminates in a life-or-death standoff captured on bodycam. This episode takes you on the intense manhunt told by two key agents who led the charge, John Miller (a former assistant director of public affairs for the FBI) and Chuck Berger (a retired agent on the FBI’s NYC Joint Terrorism Task Force).
Miller and Berger sit down with fellow agent Cindy Coppola and reveal never-before-shared case details.
“Kidnapping of Hannah Anderson” – The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team heads to the remote wilderness of Idaho to track down the so-called family friend who killed Hannah Anderson’s mother and brother and abducted the 16-year-old.
This case provides a behind-the-scenes look into this risky hostage rescue mission by one of the agents there, Chuck Davis, chief of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team. Davis sits down with fellow agent Kristy Kottis, revealing this case’s emotional toll on him on the 10th Anniversary of This Case.
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TUESDAY, OCT. 17 (10:28-11:00 PM, ET/PT) **Abbreviated Episode Airing at a Special Time (5th Anniversary of Killer’s Arrest)
“Golden State Killer” – In one of the most infamous serial killer cases in American history, the FBI works with local law enforcement in California to try and apprehend the so-called “Golden State Killer.”
In a case that spans four decades, authorities resort to an unprecedented use of familial DNA data to finally track down the man responsible for 13 murders and 51 sexual assaults.
Julia Cowley from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit was this case’s lead agent/profiler. It worked side by side with Larry Pool, the Orange County Sheriff’s investigator who was assigned this case in 1998. Cowley and Pool sit down with fellow agent Kristy Kottis to discuss the impact of the new science of every future case.
TUESDAY, OCT. 24 (9:01-10:00 PM, ET/PT) (10th Anniversary of This Terrorist Attack)
“Boston Marathon Manhunt” – When two bombs cut a swath of death and destruction through the crowd of runners and spectators at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the FBI stepped up to lead a massive manhunt for the perpetrators.
As the nation watches transfixed, the Bureau and its law enforcement partners work against time to find the bombers before they can strike again. When the suspects finally emerge, they lead authorities on a high-stakes chase through the streets of greater Boston.
Riveting details are disclosed by two FBI agents and a local police sergeant who knew that time was their enemy.
Rick DesLauriers (who retired as a Special Agent in charge of the Boston field office and previously worked as director of the counterintelligence division at FBI headquarters), Nancy Aguilar (a retired Special Agent of the FBI who worked extraterritorial threats), and John MacLellan (a retired police sergeant who served as a patrol officer in Watertown, Mass., for 30 years).
The agents and MacLellan sit down with Cindy Coppola to talk about the intensity of the bombing and putting their lives on the line.
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TUESDAY, OCT. 31 (9:01-10:00 PM, ET/PT) **Two Back-to-Back Cases Comprise the Full Hour.
“Horror in Yosemite” – In 1999, three women went missing in Yosemite National Park, launching the most extensive search and rescue operation in California history. Two women are found in a burned car, and the third is only found when the killer sends a taunting note to the FBI.
After a fourth woman is found beheaded near the park, the Bureau believes a serial killer may be on the loose and assigns an FBI profiler who uncovers the murderer’s darkest inner secrets.
The FBI has shared essential recordings and details from the operation led by 30-year FBI veteran/profiler Jeff Rinek. Rinek sits down with agent Kristy Kottis to discuss the pressure he felt working on this case.
“The Beltway Snipers” – For three weeks in October 2002, citizens of the Washington, D.C., area are terrorized by an unknown sniper who seems to choose their victims randomly. As the FBI investigators hunt for the murderer and law enforcement is inundated by false leads, the investigation stalls, and the killings continue.
Will a series of cryptic clues the shooter leaves help authorities end the killing spree?
We follow three FBI agents, each with their own areas of expertise. Melissa Thomas is a retired FBI Special Agent who worked for the counterterrorism squad in Washington, D.C., and the behavioral analysis department at Quantico.
Whit Darnell is a retired Special Agent who worked on the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, and Keith Runk is a retired SWAT commander and assistant commander of the special operations division of the Maryland State Police.
Agents Thomas, Darnell, and Runk sit down with fellow agent Kristy Kottis to share the impact this case had on all their lives.
The above sneak peek was shared with TV Fanatic by CBS and reveals how the special agents dealt with the missing boy in the bunker.
The story goes into stunning detail, and while we don’t want to spoil too much, we’ll see these agents are professional, trained, and have rehearsed these rescues.
Tune into FBI: True, beginning Tuesday, October 3 at 9/8c on CBS. Episodes will also stream on Paramount +.
Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.