‘Criminal Minds’ Renewed for 15th and Final Season

CBS will be closing the case on Criminal Minds for the last time.

The network announced the renewal of the beloved crime procedural for a 10-episode 15th season.

According to Deadline, the series will film its final season immediately after wrapping the Season 14 finale and will air sometime during the 2019-20 broadcast season.

The series will match other long running dramas like NBC’s ER and CBS’ CSI as it wraps up the series with 15 seasons, only with Gunsmoke, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy currently ahead of it on the list of longest drama series ever.

Criminal Minds stars Joe Mantegna and will end with a total of 325 episodes, landing in the top 20 for shows with the most episodes.

“It is the quintessential CBS hit. We are so proud to have aired it,” said Amy Reisenbach, CBS’ EVP current programs. “It speaks to everything we do best, which is air quality television. It’s been successful not only on air but online, in syndication, internationally for ABC (Studios).”

The series broke the news on Twitter to their fans, along with the announcement of their season finale date.

“Hey, #CriminalMinds fans — we’ve got big news. First, mark your calendar for the Season 14 finale, Feb 6 at 10/9c. Next, get ready for a momentous ride: Season 15 will be our epic final season,” the CBS series said in the tweet.

The outlet reports that Criminal Minds has been a huge hit in reruns and basic cable, also performing well on Netflix.

The decision to give the series a final season run, despite a serious decline the ratings, came in late fall when executive producer Erica Messer was breaking the stories for the final episodes of Season 14. The studios and CBS decided to allow the show to have a proper ending that would satisfy fans.

“We wanted to make sure Erica had the time and ability to write a season (14) finale that honors the characters and the fans,” Reisenbach added. “We discussed wanting to keep the show in continuous production so 10 felt like the right number for us to roll straight into and give Erica enough episodes to end the series the way she wanted to.”

The 10-episode season will reportedly be more serialized than the procedural drama is known for, including a two-part season premiere and some last-minute reveals that will shock fans of the series.

The publication also said there is hope to bring back some fan favorite characters who have previously left the series to say goodbye before the series finale.

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.