CIA Released First Trailer: CBS’s New Spy Series Wants to Be Serious… and Just a Little Bit Sexy

CBS has officially dropped the first trailer for CIA and yes, it’s exactly the kind of glossy, testosterone-fueled spy drama you’d expect from the network that brought us the ever-expanding FBI universe. The newly released trailer gives viewers their first real taste of what this FBI spinoff is selling and it’s a cocktail of covert ops, clashing personalities and enough smolder to power a small city.

At the center of CIA are Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss, paired up as two law-enforcement professionals who should absolutely not be working together… which of course means they’re perfect television partners. Ellis plays a reckless, rule-bending CIA officer who treats international espionage like a contact sport. Gehlfuss counters as a disciplined, by-the-book FBI agent who looks permanently stressed about being dragged into black-ops chaos. The trailer wastes no time establishing their odd-couple dynamic, leaning heavily into sharp banter, power struggles and barely concealed mutual admiration.

Visually, the CIA trailer checks all the boxes. Moody lighting? Check. Rapid-fire action shots? Check. CBS clearly wants CIA to feel slicker, darker and just a bit edgier than its procedural siblings, even if it still plays safely within network-TV boundaries. Think less gritty cable realism, more high-budget escapism with a badge.

What works best in the trailer is the chemistry. Ellis, fresh off years of charming audiences elsewhere, brings an effortless swagger that makes even the most absurd spy dialogue go down smoothly with that accent. Gehlfuss grounds the series with a quieter intensity, giving CIA the classic tension of chaos versus control. Whether the show can sustain that spark beyond the pilot remains the big question, but the trailer makes a convincing case that it’s at least worth tuning in.

That said, CIA isn’t exactly reinventing the genre. The plot teases familiar themes like national security threats, blurred moral lines and secrets that “change everything.” Still, familiarity isn’t always a bad thing, especially when delivered with confidence and a wink.

With the first trailer now out, CIA positions itself as CBS’s next must-watch drama for fans of slick spy stories and procedural thrills. If the series can balance its action, character dynamics and just enough self-awareness, it might just earn its place in the primetime lineup. And if nothing else, watching these two agents argue while saving the world? That alone might be worth the mission.