FBI: MOST WANTED: Julian McMahon Previews a ‘Roller Coaster Ride of Terror’ in the Christmas Hour

Though FBI: MOST WANTED’s Jess (Julian McMahon) and the team are used to dealing with the most dangerous fugitives out in the field, things hit close to home in the Tuesday, December 14 episode, “Run-Hide-Fight.” (The hour airs at a special time, 9/8c, following FBI’s fall finale.)

“The episode starts off with the LaCroix family Christmas shopping and they bump into Barnes and her [pregnant] wife,” McMahon previews. “And pretty soon after that, the whole thing becomes chaotic, and the mall shuts down.”

Unfortunately for the agents, they’re faced with active shooters, who are taking out shoppers…and there’s no safe way to exit.

“From then on, we’re on a roller coaster ride of terror and this heartfelt journey for all of these characters that we know, and a couple that we don’t—but we get to know very quickly—of how they kind of survive that,” McMahon teases.

For Jess and Barnes (Roxy Sternberg), they jump into work mode to try and get the trapped civilians to safety while they attempt to neutralize the threats. “I do think it’s interesting that you get these two agents who are trapped in this environment, who are really good at what they do,” McMahon says. “And then [they are] also using the outside contacts of the team that they have. It makes for a really kind of fascinating kind of dynamic of good versus bad.”

But, naturally, things are complex for the agents when faced with life-and-death situations and their family is nearby.

“It’s an interesting one,” McMahon acknowledges. “We talk[ed] about that the whole time we’re shooting, the dichotomy of being a professional and then being the head of the house, let’s call it, in regards to his father, as well as his girlfriend and his daughter. And in even in regards to Barnes and her family. I think he feels responsible for all of them.”

FBI: MOST WANTED boss David Hudgins previously teased the drama’s Christmas episode “comes at the audience in a very unexpected way,” and indeed the hour does focus on family–both chosen and biological.

“[The episode is] also really driven with this emotional core,” McMahon notes. “I’ve always believed that to be the centerpiece of the work that we do: this is a family-first kind of thing. And I mean that all facets of that. You know how much I tie into Jess and his family, but, also, his team—his team [members] are his family. And this kind of episode is really the epitome of that, because from the get-go, it’s all for each other and it’s all about survival.”

“So this the stakes are high and the tension is high,” he continues. “And the love is real, you know? That just makes for beautiful storytelling amongst what is a pretty horrific situation.”

FBI: MOST WANTED, Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS

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