Eva & Nina's FBI Season 9 Team-Up Previewed By Juliana Alden Martinez

CBS Published Nov 10, 2026, 10:00 AM EST Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Warning: SPOILERS for the FBI episode “Ultimatum” are ahead!Eva Ramos, FBI’s newest main ensemble character, is teaming up soon with Nina Chase, a longtime fan-favorite from the FBI franchise. In FBI season 8, episode 3, titled “Boy Scout,” Juliana Aidén Martinez debuted as Eva, the new partner of John Boyd’s Stuart Scola. Scola is also married to Shantel VanSanten’s Nina, who’s been recurring on FBI since season 4, and was a series regular in the final two seasons of FBI: Most Wanted. Nina and Scola tied the knot in season 8’s “Confetti,” and they have a son together named Dougie. Because Martinez didn’t appear in “Confetti,” Eva and Nina haven’t met yet on FBI. That changes next week when VanSanten reprises Nina in the episode “Posterity.” This follows the emotional series of events Eva went through in “Ultimatum,” where she found herself in a precarious situation on the Staten Island Ferry involving a young woman tied to a biohazard terror plot. This story was bookended by Eva checking in on her mother, who’s in an abusive relationship, but refuses to leave her partner. In an interview with ScreenRant’s Adam Holmes, Martinez shared how excited she is for FBI fans to see Eva and Nina working together in “Ultimatum.” The episode sees the starring protagonists investigating the murder of an online influencer, and they soon discover footage tying someone on the Most Wanted list to the crime. Nina will join the agents in intercepting the criminal before he disappears. Martinez believes that Eva and Nina being paired is a perfect fit, explaining: I think it's going to be really fun. It's such a treat to get to work with Shantel. I know that the relationship with Nina is so beloved in the fandom, and to see Eva's familiarity with Scola and how they're getting really closer together as a unit, but also her getting to know Dougie and with her giving relationship advice to Scola. You're really seeing them coming together in a more personal way. So Eva getting to work with Nina Chase, to me, feels very organic and also really exciting because you get to see these two powerful women in school, in life, working together side by side. So I think the fans are going to love it. Eva is the latest in a string of partners that Scola’s had since he joined FBI in season 2. The previous one, Emily Alabi’s Dani Rhodes, was killed in the line of duty in the season 8 premiere, and she was preceded by Lisette Olivera’s Syd Ortiz, who only appeared in five season 7 episodes before departing. Regarding what makes Eva and Scola’s partnership special, Martinez said: I think shared pain. They have the shared pain of … Eva lost her partner in a really tragic way of betrayal. And then Scola, like you said, he's lost his partners as well. His last partner was shot and killed trying to save him. So there was a sense of guilt and shame, I think, for both of them and what the past partnership is. But also, the really interesting thing for both of them is I feel they really use their intelligence as a weapon, and they use their wits as confidently as their badge of honor. Like, ‘I’m the smartest person in the room. You got nothing on me.’ And there is this Beatrice Benedict thing and Shakespeare that it's like, they've got each other, and also they're like, ‘I got this. I'm smart. I know what to do.’ And I think that's one of the things of why they work so well together. That they have these similarities that they can draw on. Juliana Aidén Martinez Reflects On “Ultimatum” And How Eva’s Mother’s Storyline Should Continue CBS ScreenRant: Between Eva’s mother being in this abusive relationship and what happens on the ferry, how did you go about preparing for and handling the emotional heaviness of this episode? Well, one thing that I wanted to do is treat it with the most honesty and transparency I could. There were situations that I was like, ‘I need to be more informed on this.’ So it was through this episode that I connected with the Crime Victims Treatment Center, which is New York State's first program to provide assistance to survivors of sexual assault, and they really informed me on what Eva's interactions with her mom would be. Like, how she would deal with a relationship that has elements of coercive control and domestic violence involved, and how she would work with what becomes like two women who are dealing with this in some way? They really gave me also a lot of respect for people who are doing this healing right now. So it informed me on what Eva's interactions would be, and it also gave me just huge respect and wanting to give all of myself to the episode and how you would deal with people moment to moment who are in these very fragile situations. ScreenRant: “Ultimatum” ends on a mixed note for Eva, because her mother agrees to remain in contact, but won’t leave her abusive partner. How will this impact Eva as the season continues? How will this be touched upon again, if at all? Will we see more of Eva with her mother later in the season? I hope that we do. I hope that we do have some more episodes where we see the evolution between Eva and her mom. I think that would be really beautiful for the audience to see because, like you said, it does end in what for me is a very bittersweet ending. Nothing is fully resolved, which I also think is so accurate to life. We unfortunately don't get these perfect movie endings to any of our relationships. There's always a type of nuance to it. So I do hope that there will be some episodes where we see the evolution of these women. But there's such a beautiful arc that happens in the beginning of this episode, and Eva and her having this fight with her mom, to coming to her mom at the end and really showing this very vulnerable side to her that I think will translate to Eva showing that side to the rest of her team and to her partner Scola. ScreenRant: Because procedural shows are chiefly focused on these cases of the week, what’s it like when you get these opportunities to do deep character work and make who you’re playing even more complex? Yeah, I was actually just talking about this. We are such a thrilling and action-based show, and I think that's one of the reasons that people love it. Because the show is really exciting to watch, and we're always doing these crazy action sequences that are so exciting, and, for me, really feels like Mission Impossible every week. But the chance to tell a story like this, which is so relatable, unfortunately, to so many people … Statistically, when we look at this, one in three women will experience some form of sexual assault or violence in their lives, and I think it's like about one in 10 men. Seeing that this is something that you know statistically, we all know someone who's gone through this. So the chance to tell this story and show a very honest portrayal of someone struggling to help their mom and not knowing what to do, it feels like a real honor. And I know that our writer Mae [Smith] wrote it with a lot of heart and conviction, and [Nimisha Mukerji], our director, did such a great job. So it really feels like such an honor to get a chance to tell a story like this on our show. CBS ScreenRant: We got this episode involving Eva’s mother, earlier this year, FBI’s 150th episode followed Eva having to confront Hector Vega again. What aspect of Eva’s life or past would you like to see FBI delve into next? I would like to see Eva’s relationship with her ex-partner, her ex-lover. I think that would be really, really interesting and fun to play, and also what Eva would be like with a new romantic interest. I think that would be really interesting too, because I think Eva does have this big heart. She wants she wants the happy, Taylor Swift-like love story. She does want to have a really beautiful and fulfilling relationship with another man, but she just doesn't know how to yet. And I think for her, one of those first steps that she's doing is building that relationship with her partner Scola. But it would be really interesting to see how that would translate romantically for someone in the future for her, and what that would look like. ScreenRant: Before I let you go, you’re also a Law & Order: SVU veteran, and the show is reaching its 600th next week. What are your thoughts on this milestone and having been part of a show that remains popular after all this time? It’s so incredibly humbling. To work alongside icons like Mariska and Ice T, and to learn so much from them, which are things that I've carried through as an actor, also going into FBI as well. It's such an honor. I had such an amazing time there, and to see SVU really getting to this milestone, to me, is such an achievement of how incredible that cast and crew is. It's not easy to do. They're the longest running TV show in history, and that really speaks to their pursuit of excellence, their professionalism, their desire to keep making stories that are reflective of current topics and society, and there's a reason that people love these shows because we do get justice in these stories. We have people fighting for us, and we're going to make the world a little better every day. That really just speaks to how important these stories are and how amazing the SVU team is. So I'm so happy for them. FBI airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS’s fall 2026 TV schedule. Release Date September 25, 2018 Network CBS Directors Dick Wolf Cast Missy Peregrym Maggie Bell Zeeko Zaki Omar Adom OA Zidan Writers Dick Wolf Creator(s) Dick Wolf, Craig Turk