'Criminal Minds: Evolution' Cast Tease 'Exciting' and 'Dynamic' Season 2 of Paramount+ Revival (Exclusive)
The first two episodes of 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' Season 2 premiere on Thursday, June 6 on Paramount+.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 will be here on June 6 some of the cast spoke to PopCulture.com about what to expect. The Criminal Minds revival premiered on Paramount+ in 2022 and focused on Zach Gilford's season-long unsub, Elias Voit, who was behind a whole network of serial killers. With Voit now in the BAU's custody following a showdown in the Season 1 finale, things will be getting even more intense, especially with the mysterious Gold Star in play.
Aisha Tyler, who plays Special Agent Dr. Tara Lewis, stressed that Season 2 is "the best season of Criminal Minds thus far. I feel super confident in saying that. We all have really been marveling at just the level to which our creative team, and specifically Erica Messer, Breen Frazier, and Chris Barbour, have really elevated the storytelling, the caliper of the scripts, really demanding. I mean, knowing that this is a team that can absolutely over-deliver, really demanding a lot of everybody involved and just telling really extraordinary stories."
"This is just an amazing season of Criminal Minds," Tyler continued. "It's the best one yet. I think for long-time fans of the show, it's going to be a real journey for them. To love a show as intensely as the Criminal Minds fandom, loves Criminal Minds, and then to know that the best is in front of them and not behind them, I think, is a really great position to be in as a part of the creative team, and then also as a fan. I think people are going to be really delighted."
L-R: Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, Ryan-James Hatanaka as Tyler Green, A.J. Cook as Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau, Joe Mantegna as David Rossi and Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 1, season 17 streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
- Michael Yarish /Paramount+)Due to the dual Hollywood strikes last year, Criminal Minds was one of many, many shows that had to pause production. Once Season 2 of Evolution finally got back into the swing of things in January, it was non-stop for the cast and crew. While Season 2 is premiering over a year after the Season 1 finale, A.J. Cook, who plays Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jureau, says it's "definitely worth the wait." She continued, "They're going to be thrilled. Definitely worth the wait. A pretty cool thing to get to say that in season 17 we're doing some of our best work. So excited for all of y'all to see it."
Criminal Minds newbie Ryan-James Hatanaka joined last season as vigilante Tyler Green and praised the writers for being able to "balance these weekly unsubs and the weekly cases with new serialized format" so well. He said, "There's some new relationships that are forming all over the place, and those are the real juicy things for everybody. I'll just echo the sentiment that it's a great, great, great season."
L-R: Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, Joe Mantegna as David Rossi and A.J. Cook as Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 1, season 17 streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish /Paramount+
- Michael Yarish /Paramount+)Overall, it sounds like Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 will be a season you won't want to miss out on because, according to Aisha Tyler, it's "just the most propulsive, the most dynamic, the most exciting season that we've ever made. I think our storytelling has really elevated itself to a new level. I think all season, we'd be reading the scripts as we were shooting, and then on the group thread like, 'Oh, my God, have you guys read 5? Have you guys read 6?' Like, Holy s---." It's really, really great."
"I mean, I've been here for seven seasons, but A.J.'s been here for all of the seasons," Tyler explained. "To feel that way about the writing, to feel that excited about what comes next as a cast is a really unique place to be in, in Season 17 of a show. It's a killer season of television, and I think that people are really going to be just dazzled by it, and I think come to the end of this season when it arrives and be just desperate for more. We're really hoping we get to do this again for Season 3, but in the meantime, we have got an incredible season of television in the chamber for everybody."
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 premieres its first two episodes on Thursday, June 6, on Paramount+, so it won't be long until fans see just what really makes it the best season yet of Criminal Minds. They will want to be on their A-game, though, as A.J. Cook shares, "There truly is a sense of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. It's one big mystery. Like Aisha said, we were so excited to get the next script because the storytelling is so strong, and the solving of the puzzle and putting all those pieces together is, like I said, it's top-notch. We've really hit our stride here. It's been so much fun to shoot this."
All seasons of Criminal Minds are streaming on Paramount+. New episodes of Evolution will drop weekly on Thursdays following the June 6 premiere.
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