There’s something to be said for a procedural drama that doesn’t put its leads together. Such seems to be the case for FBI with Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) and Omar Adom “OA” Zidan (Zeeko Zaki). And both stars are completely on board with that.
“There’s something really great about the fact that we aren’t together, but have this relationship and are partners, and I love being able to play that. And actually, I think it’s really significant and you don’t want to mess that up,” Peregrym tells TV Insider.
Zaki shares that sentiment: “You see a lot of romantic relationships on TV, and I think it’s fun to show love without showing, without it having to be —” Peregrym interjects with “sexual,” and he agrees. “I think it’s rare in the real world and even rarer on TV, so it’s really fun to get to play that.”
That being said, Peregrym acknowledges she’s not writing the show. But there’s “nothing so far” that suggests that will change in Season 8.
It doesn’t sound like Maggie’s luck with love will change that fast, either, since that’s a “tricky” part of her life, according to Peregrym.
“I think with the job that I have, you have to be very vigilant. You have to kind of be on guard a lot, and being vulnerable in a relationship with somebody is not going to be second nature anymore in the same way. And I kind of have my partner at work, do you know what I mean? And there’s not a lot of time elsewhere,” she explains.
“I mean, I hope that we explore it again maybe down the road, but I really do feel that it’s a very tricky thing to do, and I don’t think a lot of people can handle what I do for a living without being worried about me all the time, and they can’t do anything about it. They can’t protect me. Do people really want to be in a relationship with me? If they’re going to just fall in love with me and then I could die, that sucks,” Peregrym continues. So it’s real stuff, and I actually really appreciated that we explored that a little bit because I think that women do go through that in real life in these positions when they’re police officers and firefighters, all these jobs where their life is on the line, and it takes a pretty special person to be able to partner with.”
On the other hand, OA is making a relationship work. He and Gemma (Comfort Clinton) are still going strong.
“I think it works because she allows me to have this incredibly strong relationship with my coworker,” says Zaki. “I just think it’s a really intense job, and it’s cliché to say that you can’t be in a relationship because your job’s too intense and stuff like that, but I think we’re figuring out, and we’ll see what happens this season.”
Do you want to see Maggie and OA’s relationship become romantic? Let us know in the comments section below.
FBI, Season 8 Premiere, Monday, October 13, 9/8c, CBS