Roxy Sternberg Breaks Down Her Return to 'FBI: Most Wanted' and Teases an Upcoming Romance

Barnes (Roxy Sternberg) is back on FBI: Most Wanted after a rough injury and a divorce, and she wasted no time in finding quite a case. It might actually be more accurate to say the case found her, as it all came from one of those annoying phone scams that try to steal your money.

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Barnes got the call right before she was about to head back to work, and she quickly identified herself as an FBI agent who wasn't about to fall for whatever the caller was selling. The teenage girl on the phone then took a chance by saying she was being held captive and forced to make these calls, and Barnes was left with a puzzling problem that may or may not be a real case worthy of the FBI.

Remy (Dylan McDermott) certainly wasn't sure it was a real case worthy of the FBI, but Barnes couldn't let it go. Meanwhile, viewers quickly learned the case was very real. The girl was one of a small group of people being held against their will in a mysterious warehouse by an intimidating couple who forced them to scam people out of money. Everyone had a quota they were supposed to hit in order to be released, and if they didn't seem to be working towards their quota, they might get their throat slit.

It was a sort of wacky situation, but something about it was even more terrifying than the crimes on this show usually are. Remy dismissed Barnes' concerns and told her to turn the lead over to Jubal (Jeremy Sisto), but Barnes felt like this was something she had to investigate. Hana (Keisha Castle-Hughes) reluctantly joined her, and together they tracked down a guy running a VPN who also had shoes covered in soy sauce because he dumped a body behind a Chinese restaurant.

The body got Remy involved, though he wasn't happy about it. And the whole thing became a race against time as the scammers tried to find their mole and clear their tracks. It was quite an eventful way to welcome Barnes back to work.

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"I think this case has parallels to her personal life, with her two children being taken away from her," Sternberg told Parade. "This child, this young girl Jessie, is sounding distressed, and it is my duty to save her, as I wasn't able to save my family."

Even as the case escalated, Remy never quite got over the way Barnes went behind his back and he let her know every step of the way.

"I went against his command. I think there's a disappointment there," Sternberg said. "But we've clashed heads before. It hits a nerve. They say you forgive, but you don't forget. So I think it's matter of him having forgiven me, but he's not forgotten. It's logged somewhere into that memory, so it's being challenged again, and I don't think he takes too well to it."

Even after the team successfully tracked down the scammers and saved the girl and her fellow captive coworkers, Remy had no kind words for Barnes. He told her that if she pulls a stunt like that again, she's off the team, which feels a little extreme to say the least.

"It's a little bit stressful, because you would hope at the end for some kind of 'You're welcome,' or that he would have given me some respect and accolade," Sternberg said. "My intuition was right! Instead, I get a warning. It's a little bit unsettling and dissatisfying, but I had to do that. I couldn't just pass that [case] on. It came to me. It was for me, and I'm a big believer in superstitions. That was for me, and I wasn't just going to give it away."

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So far, Sternberg said she hasn't seen a script where this conflict comes up again. as there's "no room for people to take things personally" in a job where lives are on the line. In fact, things are looking up for the newly-divorced second-in-command. As she gets used to her new family dynamics, with her children coming to visit her occasionally from D.C., she also gets to have a little fun. Sternberg teased that Barnes will meet someone new in a later episode, and it's going from zero to 100 real quick.

"It's a great thing for her," she said. "It just makes me, Roxy, sad that the marriage isn't going to work. But it will be a lovely new thing for her. I don't know if she's ready to go into a serious relationship, but I think she might play the field for a bit and explore. She doesn't strike me as someone who's going to have copious one-night stands, but I think she does deserve to have some fun."

And that fun is "way beyond flirts."

"Oh, these writers have us getting down. They're having a bit too much fun," she teased. "There's some raunchiness that happens in this episode. So close your eyes, everyone!"

Barnes has always been happily married up until now, so this will be a new side to the character for the audience and for Sternberg.

"It's not going to be like a different show, like Game of Thrones or something," she said. "But it's just fun to play with a new tool. How is Barnes flirting? I've never played Barnes flirting. It will be fun to blow off some of those cobwebs of Barnes. I'm sure it's been a while since she's had a flirt."

Between that adventure and her cute new friendship with Hana (the only other OG Most Wanted cast member), maybe divorce will actually be great for Barnes, as long as she doesn't piss Remy off again.

FBI: Most Wanted airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS.

Next, here's everything to know about the current season of FBI.