Is Scott Forrester Leaving FBI: International? Here’s the Real Reason Luke Kleintank Has Been Missing From the Show

Since his absence from several episodes in season 2, fans have had questions about if Scott Forrester is leaving FBI: International and where Luke Kleintank’s character is.

FBI: International is CBS’ drama series following a team of FBI special agents who investigate crime and terrorism abroad. The show is a spinoff of FBI and the third show in Dick Wolf and Derek Haas’ FBI franchise, preceded by FBI: Most Wanted.  Luke Kleintank plays Scott Forrester, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent and the head of the international Fly Team, a group of elite special agents headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, who locate and neutralize threats against American interests around Europe.

In an interview with The List in 2022, Kleintank confirmed that most of the cast moved to Budapest to film the show. “When we started this season, everybody was new, but this one was different because not only was everybody new, but everybody was moving their entire lives to a new country,” he said. “It felt like it was a huge decision for everybody to take their lives and move it all the way to Budapest and start in a new place [where] actually none of us had ever been. It felt like a huge choice and a risk.”

Kleintank also told The List about how the foreign set of FBI: International has allowed him and other cast members to become closer. “It turns out that we all were in the same boat and we all felt the same way, and we didn’t really know anybody else,” he said. “We all depended upon each other for friendship, and luckily enough, you could work with actors that you don’t like, and you could work with people that you don’t vibe with. We were blessed enough to actually truly vibe with each other. We’re the fly team, and this is not me just saying this because it’s an interview or whatever. I’m being 100 percent truthful. Our actors team is, it feels like we are the fly team because we know nobody else. This is us. I’ve said it again and again, it’s like, life imitates art. We really are the best of the best. We go out, we hang out.” He continued, “We’re having drinks. We’re going, we’re singing karaoke. We’re at each other’s houses. We depend on it. We actually depend on each other, which is rare, because if this show had been in the States, it’s easy to go back to your respective house and see your other friends that you know. We didn’t know anybody. It’s a forced friendship, but it actually became a real friendship.”

As an original cast member, there’s a special interest in how long Kleintank will be on the show. So…is Scott Forrester leaving FBI: International? Read on for what we know about if Scott Forrester is leaving FBI: International and where Luke Kleintank’s character has been.

Is Scott Forrester leaving FBI: International?

Is Scott Forrester leaving FBI: International? The answer is no. In an interview with Give Me My Remote in December 2022, FBI: International creator Derek Haas — who also created FBI and FBI: Most Wanted — explained that Forrester isn’t in a few episodes of FBI: International season 2 because the actor who plays him, Luke Kleintank, was on paternity leave after the birth of his daughter, Ruby Roland Kleintank, with his wife, Christina Vignaud, in October 2022. “Luke had a baby—he’s an awesome guy and an awesome dad,” Haas said. “And we planned this arc around the fact that [with] a newborn, he would want some time to be a dad. And, of course, as a father myself, and as anyone who works at this company will attest, we’re a big family; we’re a family-friendly organization.”

He continued, “We figured out, okay, for the episodes he’s gonna be off, let’s do two things: One we can enhance all the other characters and let them have some episodes where they can shine on their own. And two, put Forrester’s career in jeopardy. He’s being bounced around and not working with the Fly Team and he’s going to want to know why. This is going to lead to a major second half character arc.”

In season 2, episode 11 “Someone She Knew,” Forrester — an FBI Supervisory Special Agent and the head of the International Fly Team — butts heads with Ken Dandridge, a legal attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, over Forrester’s investigation of two missing girls. Their feud escalates when Dandridge — who is also a former FBI Special Agent who tried to get Forrester’s position on the Fly Team — forces his way into Forrester’s investigation and gives a press conference he shouldn’t have, which allowed the suspect who kidnapped the girls a chance to escape. He takes down Dandridge when Forrester — with the help of the special agent Dandridge placed on his team, Zoey McKenna — learns that Dandridge issued an unauthorized wiretap on his phone.

“I thought the writers did a great job in creating a storyline that built a lot of drama with lots of twists and turns and kept people on the edge of their seats,” Kleintank told TV Line in January 2023. He also confirmed to TV Line that Forrester isn’t leaving FBI: International. “I know it scared the fans, but Forrester is not going anywhere.” Kleintank also teased Forrester’s future in the FBI after he took down Dandridge in an interview with TV Insider in January 2023. “From a story point of view, it was very satisfying to take Dandridge down,” Kleintank said. “As an actor, we had a lot of fun filming this scene. Michael Torpey, who plays Dandridge, is a great actor and was a blast to work with.” He continued, “The higher-ups are on his side, and Dandridge is gone, so who knows, he may become the head of the FBI someday.” Kleintank also confirmed to TV Insider that Forrester isn’t out of favors. “Scott has plenty of favors left in his arsenal. If he can’t get it done with favors, he’ll get it done the Forrester way,” he said.

He also told TV Insider what it was like to film Forrester’s scene in “Someone She Knew,” where he finds and rescues the girls and fights off their kidnapper. “Filming that scene was a lot of fun. When it comes to stunts, I take them very seriously and we try to make them as action-packed as possible with the time that we have,” Kleintank said. “Our stunt team is really great at orchestrating our fights, and we really enjoy filming them.”

“Someone She Knew” wasn’t the first episode that sparked worries Forrester was leaving FBI: International. He was also missing in season 2, episode 15, “Trust,” in which Jamie Kellett, an FBI Special Agent who is the Fly Team’s second-in-command, and Cameron Vo, another FBI Special Agent, explained that he was at a conference in Washington D.C. to give a speech to legal attachés — or legats — across the world about the Fly Team’s work. At the end of “Trust,” Kellett received news from Forrester that “Washington was very pleased with our efforts here,” and that the Fly Team, including Vo, had been commended by several important people.

FBI: International airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBS.

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