• FBI’s Season 8 finale ended with OA getting fired after calling his new director a “disgrace” to the bureau
• Anna Vorpe then offered OA a spot on her off-the-books Department of Defense strike team
• It’s revealed OA’s firing was staged — he’s going undercover with Maggie and Isobel’s knowledge
• Zeeko Zaki exclusively opened up about the cliffhanger and what fans can expect in Season 9
• The rest of the team — including Jubal, Scola, and Eva — have no idea what’s really going on

OA Zidan just got fired from the FBI. Except, not really — and Zeeko Zaki is very much here for it.

The CBS drama dropped one of its biggest cliffhangers yet in the Season 8 finale, titled “Defector,” which aired Monday, May 18. And the fallout for OA — Special Agent Omar Adom Zidan — is going to reshape everything heading into Season 9.

What Went Down in the FBI Season 8 Finale

The episode put OA, Maggie (Missy Peregrym), Scola (John Boyd), and Eva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) in an impossible situation: a stolen bioweapon, a lethal RNA virus, and a busload of civilians already infected. Making things exponentially worse was the return of Anna Vorpe (Claire Coffee), the morally flexible NSA operative who plays by her own rulebook.

The team eventually discovered that the NSA had moved in on the transport vehicle to steal the sample themselves — only to find it already gone. Anna’s team, meanwhile, was using torture to extract information from truck drivers, which immediately put OA and Maggie on edge. When they finally got their hands on the case, Anna’s strike team turned on them, physically beating both agents and taking the pathogen — without administering the antigen to the infected civilians on the bus.

“OA and Maggie have a moral compass,” Zaki told TVLine. “Anna represents the darker side of law enforcement. They do whatever it takes. Shoot first, ask questions later. We do not like that one bit. It’s a sad reality that people bend the law, but it’s one we need to show.”

Back at 26 Fed, newly appointed ADIC Lawrence Green (Curtiss Cook) delivered the gut punch: the entire operation was to be buried. Field reports fudged. The civilians — collateral damage. The infected bus had been “moved” for treatment, Green said cryptically. OA didn’t buy a word of it.

He called Green a “disgrace” to the bureau.

Green fired him on the spot.

The Goodbyes That Weren’t Really Goodbyes

What followed was a genuinely emotional sequence — even if it turned out to be something of a performance. OA made his rounds: telling Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) it’s been a pleasure and shaking his hand; hugging a tearful Scola, then Eva, who couldn’t believe what was happening. Maggie stopped him before he reached the door. “I cannot lose you too,” she told him — a reference to her sister’s death earlier this season. OA pulled her close. “You’re never going to lose me, Mags.”

Since those weren’t truly final goodbyes, “it was fun to play,” Zaki told TV Insider. “I hope it never comes to that. It will be a little more than a quick hug and firm handshake.”

Later that night, Anna found OA at a bar and made her pitch. Her team works off the books for the Department of Defense. They operate in the gray areas the FBI won’t touch. And she wanted him.

OA stared at her business card after she left. Then he made a call.

Maggie and Isobel Castille (Alana De La Garza) picked up on the other end. “I’m in,” OA said — revealing that the firing wasn’t a firing at all. It was step one of a plan.

“I like to think that was always the plan,” Zaki told Us Weekly exclusively. “Step one was to get fired, and step two… let’s say we’re lucky it worked out.”

What Season 9 Holds for OA

Here’s the twist within the twist: while Maggie and Isobel know OA is going undercover with Anna’s strike team, the rest of the team — Jubal, Scola, Eva — are completely in the dark.

“We are trying to protect everyone as much as we can and their jobs. So what they know won’t hurt them,” Zaki explained. “But I can’t wait to see how they react when they find out.”

As for what it’ll actually feel like to play OA embedded in Anna’s world? Zaki is excited — and a little gleeful about the creative possibilities. “Getting to see OA on a different team will be fun to watch and film. I’m excited to play something different, but I’m also eager to get back to the team,” he said. “I’m hoping to pretend, maybe, to be a bad guy for a little while — it will be something new to play with.”

He’s also hoping for a little personal satisfaction. Strike team member Devon was responsible for the physical beating OA took in the finale, and Zaki made no secret of wanting “some bloody revenge” on that front.

The OA-Maggie separation is going to be its own emotional thread. They’ve gone undercover without each other before, but this is different — longer, more isolated, higher stakes. “It will be tough,” Zaki acknowledged. “At the end of the day, he knows she is always out there somewhere having his back.”

His bigger goal, though? “Always deepening Maggie and OA’s relationship. That will always be my favorite part of the show.”

There’s also the matter of Zara Ushruf (Pardis Saremi), the fellow agent who took the heat for OA earlier this season when he went a little rogue — and who may be becoming something more. “I think they are cut from the same cloth. Culturally. Career wise. What more could someone ask for? She gets him. So I think OA is very optimistic,” Zaki said. “I’m excited to see where Zara goes. She is so fun to work with.”

Zaki, who has been with the series since its 2018 premiere, confirmed that Season 9 — the last under the show’s multi-year renewal — will be a challenge across the board. He doesn’t yet know who Maggie will be partnered with in OA’s absence. But he’s not worried about the journey ahead for his character, even as the moral lines get blurrier.

“We all have our limits, and so does OA,” he said. “It’s fun to watch him hit that wall. And I can’t wait to see where I go from here.”

“At the end of the day he will always choose his righteous path,” he added. “Fingers crossed.”

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