‘Criminal Minds’ Cast Previews ‘Sexy, Bloody’ Revival Ahead of Paramount+ Premiere

Criminal Minds will return with a new season, a new case, and a new format on Paramount+ this fall. Kirsten Vangsness, who played Penelope Garcia in all 15 seasons of the original series, even described Criminal Minds: Evolution as “sexy, sexy, bloody.” The new series will debut just over two years after the original Criminal Minds wrapped on CBS in February 2020.

Unlike past seasons of Criminal Minds, Evolution will follow a single case over its 10 episodes. Series veteran producer Erica Messer has crafted a plot that works in the COVID-19 pandemic, as the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit has to track a suspect who built a network of serial killers during quarantine. Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster are all back, Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney are not.

Mantegna told Entertainment Weekly he agreed to return before even seeing a script. “I trusted everything about it. I never even saw a script,” the actor, who plays David Rossi, said. His co-stars also jumped at the chance to return.

“We were surprised when it was canceled, so the opportunity to do it streaming is really exciting because there are a couple of things that we can do on Paramount+ that we weren’t able to do on CBS,” Brewster, who plays Emily Prentiss, said. “It’s a different kind of show, but [it’s still] Criminal Minds. We just missed each other and all wanted to do it.”

At the start of the show, Prentiss has to get the gang back together. She is now overseeing all of the BAU units, while Rossi is the individual unit chief now. However, he’s still going through “all five stages of grief” when the series returns, Messer noted. At the end of the first episode, we will learn who he is grieving for.

“Alvez [Rodriguez] has been trying to help out raw scenes, sort of stay local for a while and handle those cases, while JJ [Cook] and Lewis [Tyler] have answered every single consultant call that they’ve gotten in the last year, which means plenty of nights away from home and living on the road,” Messer told EW. “The word from above, the bureaucrats, is, ‘Do more with less.’ I think we can all relate to that as well. Our teams have been downsized and everybody’s still got the same amount of work to do.”

The new format also gives Messer and her team a chance to delve deeper into the motivations of the unsub. The answer to “Why are they the way they are?” will play out over multiple episodes instead of needing to be answered in 42 minutes. “Why they do what they do is always going to be the heart of Criminal Minds. But you are going to be trying to understand – because you get to know him better – understand this guy’s ability to compartmentalize his life,” Messer said.

Messer is also holding out hope that the cast members not returning for Evolution will at some point. Dr. Spencer Reid’s (Gubler) desk still has his books, hinting that he may still have a job at the FBI. Matt Simmons (Henney) is also on another assignment, while Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) is just on leave to spend time with his son. “It’s something we can’t really discuss,” Messer cryptically said. “But if and when they return, it’s up to them. It’s dependent on their schedules. I can’t promise anything right now. But it’s the hope.” Criminal Minds: Evolution will be released on Paramount+ this fall.