FBI: International's Christiane Paul Talks The 'Great Gift' Of Returning As Jaeger And The Fly Team Chasing Spy Agents
FBI: International is returning to CBS with an episode that delivers what sounds like a suspenseful case as well as an exciting reunion for the Fly Team with none other than Europol’s Katrin Jaeger. The former member of the team was promoted within Europol at the end of Season 1 and replaced by Megan “Smitty” Garretson. Jaeger will need to call in her former teammates for an assist on a case, and former series regular Christiane Paul opened up about the “great gift” of coming back to FBI: International!
The reunion of Jaeger with the rest of the Fly Team (including Forrester after he managed to clean up the mess that nearly got him sent back to the U.S.) will bring the action to Berlin, with the FBI agents teaming up with her on her own turf. The former coworkers parted well at the end of Season 1, even though it was clear that they would miss each other. Speaking with CinemaBlend, Christiane Paul previewed the reunion:
It was actually lovely, and it was really a gift to work together. I don't know if you know, but this episode was mostly shot in Berlin. So they came all to Berlin, not only the actors [but] also I think the whole Hungarian crew, like everybody, wardrobe assistant, makeup assistant, best boy, gaffer, gripper, everybody came. That was actually wonderful. We were almost crying to see each other again, I must say. Yeah, I was just very happy that they brought everybody and that they generated this episode in Berlin. It was really a great, great gift. A Christmas gift, actually! Because we shot this episode close to Christmas. It was the last episode before Christmas break.
FBI: International is based out of Budapest, Hungary, but the team evidently took a bit of Budapest with them to Berlin for the episode, called “Glimmers and Ghosts,” that will air on February 14. The episode may air too late to be a Christmas gift to fans like it was for Christiane Paul, but it can count as a Valentine’s Day gift. That’s not to say that the case itself will be a romantic trip to Germany, of course!
Like her character, Christiane Paul is German, so there was a personal connection between the actress and the case this time around when it comes to location. When asked if being able to film “Glimmers and Ghosts” in Berlin made the experience feel all the more special, Paul replied:
Yeah, because I'm living in Berlin, actually! So it was like everybody came to me, and it was so funny. Vinessa Vidotto, for instance, stayed there longer. She extended her stay, and we spent one day strolling through the streets, having a glass of champagne... So we really had one day off together, which was fantastic to connect again, and that was great.
Vinessa Vidotto plays Vo on FBI: International, and spent time with Christiane Paul that didn’t involve fighting crime for a hit primetime TV show. The characters generally don’t get much downtime on International unless it ends with a crime being committed and needing investigation, so it’s nice to know that the two actresses were able to have some time together just for fun.
Of course, it’s not going to be all fun and games on FBI: International when it comes to what brings the Fly Team to Berlin. Christiane Paul previewed the case of “Glimmers and Ghosts,” which will involve spies of an era going back to when the Berlin Wall still split Germany into East and West. The actress shared:
A murder happened in Berlin, a retired math teacher... by obviously an American citizen. We know this because we have an audio recording of the voice of the killer and appears to be an American, so that's why I call my former colleagues, the FBI: international Fly Team, and they're coming in and we can discover that the victim, the former math teacher, was actually an East Germany Stasi spy agent. The whole story brings us back to the East German past, so that's very interesting about this case, I would say. And everybody is of course, not excited, but it's a special case, because of this relationship to something political, what happened in Germany, like fifty years ago or thirty years ago, and this makes this episode, I think, very special.
While the case sounds like it’s pretty terrible for the people who are caught up with Stasi spy agents circa 2023, any excuse for Jaeger to reunite with her former Fly Team sounds pretty great for fans! It’s safe to say that the Stasi spy agent’s murder is only the beginning of the story with “Glimmers and Ghosts,” and it sounds like a must-see episode. How far Jaeger has come since Season 1, when her career seemed doomed due to somebody in Interpol with a vendetta against her!
Tune in to CBS on Tuesday, February 14 at 9 p.m. ET for the new episode of FBI: International that brings Christiane Paul back as Katrin Jaeger for the first time since her departure in the Season 1 finale back in May. You can also revisit the full first season with Jaeger part of the team via a Paramount+ subscription now.
International returns between FBI (which recently featured Jubal falling off the wagon) at 8 p.m. and FBI: Most Wanted (which is sending Remy undercover as a priest) at 10 p.m. ET. Dylan McDermott has already previewed that Remy has something to prove, and a three-part crossover between the FBIs will happen in the not-too-distant future, so be sure to tune in to all three shows!