Criminal Minds: Evolution

CRIMINAL MINDS
Genre	Action Crime Drama Mystery Thriller
Running time	40–45 Minutes
Created by	Erica Messer
Starring	Paget Brewster, AJ Cook, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Zach Gilford, Ryan-James Hatanaka
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	Paramount+ CBS (US) Disney+ (Worldwide)
Original run	November 24, 2022 – Present
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	20
List of episodes	List of Episodes
IMDB profile	Criminal Minds: Evolution

Criminal Minds: Evolution is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It is a revival and sequel of the original television series, which ended in 2020, and follows members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they are faced with a network of serial killers built during the pandemic.

Plot

The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is forced to face "their greatest threat yet; an unsub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up, the network goes operational, and the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time."

Cast

Main

• Joe Mantegna - David Rossi
• A.J. Cook - Jennifer Jareau
• Kirsten Vangsness - Penelope Garcia
• Aisha Tyler - Dr. Tara Lewis
• Adam Rodriguez - Luke Alvez
• Paget Brewster - Emily Prentiss
• Zach Gilford - Elias Voit (Main: season 2–, Recurring: season 1)
• Ryan-James Hatanaka - Tyler Green (Main: season 2–, Recurring: season 1)

Recurring

• Josh Stewart - William LaMontagne, Jr. (season 1)
• Nicholas D'Agosto - Deputy Director Doug Bailey (season 1)
• Nicole Pacent - Rebecca Wilson
• Kiele Sanchez - Sydney Voit
• Clark Gregg - FBI Director Ray Madison (season 2)
• Brian White - Vincent Orlov (season 2)
• Tuc Watkins - Frank Church (season 2)
• Paul F. Tompkins - Brian Garrity (season 2)

Guests

• Gail O'Grady - Krystall Rossi
• Luke Benward - Benjamin Reeves
• Silas Weir Mitchell - Cyrus Lebrun
• Monnae Michaell - Attorney General Louise Davis
• Felicity Huffman - Dr. Jill Gideon

Seasons

• Season One: aired from November 24, 2022, to February 9, 2023.
• Season Two: aired from June 6, 2024, to August 1, 2024. The industry-wide Writers' Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strike interrupted its production on May 2, 2023, and its last strike concluded on November 9, 2023. Following the resolution of the strike, the series production resumed on January 18, 2024.
• Season Three:

Production

Season 16

The rumors of a revival for Criminal Minds had begun only months after the series finale, but there was little evidence to support such claims until mid-pandemic when Deadline reported that Paramount+ wanted to produce a spin-off series with the original cast. This excited longtime fans of the franchise and, eager for more information, the suspected returning cast was continuously asked for updates through social medial. On July 29, 2021 Paget Brewster delivered the disheartening news that they "[thought it was] dead", but that they "[would] let [the fans] know if there [was] any progress." This led to extreme outrage, but with no further evidence to the contradict Brewster, the spin-off series was written off as "dead".

On February 1, 2022 Nicole Clemens, President for Paramount+ Original Scripted Series, announced that they “are still very much in development on Criminal Minds" with "more to share on that soon”. This was the only information provided by both the network and suspected returning cast until later in the year (July 12, 2022) when Joe Mantegna posted a picture of himself on set via Twitter. This provided definitive proof that the spin-off series would be going forward.

On July 14, 2022, over a year after the revival was initially announced, Paramount+ announced that the series would be going forward with the returning cast: Paget Brewster, A.J. Cook, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Mantegna,Aisha Tyler, and Kirsten Vangsness. The fan favorites, Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney would not be returning.

On September 9, 2022, the showrunner, executive producer, and writer Erica Messer revealed that the spin-off series would be titled "Criminal Minds: Evolution" during the virtual Television Critics Association panel. It was also announced that the first two episodes would premiere on November 24, 2022 via Paramount+ which confirmed longstanding rumors that CBS was no longer producing the series. In addition to this, a partnership with Disney+ was announced for international viewership (though the show would remain exclusive to Paramount+ in the United States of America). The most surprising announcement was the season's upcoming unsub, Elias Voit, who would be played by Zach Gilford.

Season 17

On January 12, 2023, Paramount+ announced that "Criminal Minds: Evolution" had been renewed for a second season with production expected to begin later in the year. In November 2023, it was confirmed that season would be moving forward following the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA actor strike. On November 11, 2023, Paget Brewster stated that filming for the second season would begin in January 2024. Brewster later confirmed on January 15, 2024, that filming would begin the following day.

The 10-episode new season premiered on June 7 on Disney+ in Canada. The first two episodes were available to stream at launch, with subsequent new episodes dropping weekly on Friday. Season 2 also launched on Thursday, June 6, 2024, exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States.

Season 18

On June 5, 2024, merely a day before the first two episodes of Season 17 were set to be released, Paramount+ announced that "Criminal Minds: Evolution" had been renewed for a third season with production expected to begin later in the year. On August 20, 2024, it was confirmed that filming for the third season had begun that day. On December 13, 2024, Paget Brewster confirmed that filming for the third season had concluded that night.

Trivia

• "Criminal Minds: Evolution" is considered Season 16 in the series. It was renamed due to break in between seasons and change in production company.
• The series begins two years after the conclusion of Season 15.