'Criminal Minds: Evolution' Stars Joe Mantegna and Zach Gilford React to Early Season 3 Renewal (Exclusive)

Paramount+ has renewed the 'Criminal Minds' revival for a third season, prior to the Season 2 premiere tomorrow, June 6.

By Megan Behnke

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 is still hours away, but the show has already been renewed for a third season, and stars Joe Mantegna and Zach Gilford spoke to PopCulture.com about the exciting news. Paramount+ has announced that the Criminal Minds revival has been picked up for an additional season, with production starting later this year. News comes ahead of the second season, which premieres tomorrow, June 6, with the first two episodes.

While speaking with PopCulture, Gilford, who joined last season as unsub Elias Voit, admitted that "as a fan of the show, I'm super excited." However, he isn't so sure what to think as a character on Evolution. It was a pleasant surprise when it was announced that Gilford would be returning for Season 2, and it's unknown how things will go for him since he doesn't know if Voit will be coming back. Either way, though, the Friday Night Lights alum said he'll be "excited to watch and see what happens, but no promises."

Mantegna did bring up the fact that Voit is "like a bad penny. He keeps showing up. So he's certainly beaten the hell out of me plenty of times. So we'll see what happens. But we'll see. I don't think we're done with Voit just yet."

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(Photo:

L-R: Joe Mantegna as David Rossi and Zach Gilford as Elias Voit in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 6, season 17 streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish /Paramount+

- Michael Yarish /Paramount+)

The actor would know a thing or two about coming back, as Joe Mantegna has portrayed David Rossi since the overall third season of Criminal Minds. Now that the show will be going through at least Season 18, Mantegna revealed he loves how the show has "allowed us to push the envelope even more. As you can imagine, we deal with some pretty serious stuff, and people will say, 'Oh God, that's so creepy. It's this, it's that. It's so intense.' And because of that you had certain restrictions on network TV where you couldn't quite push that intensity to a certain level."

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"Now, I mean, the language restrictions are different," Mantegna continued. "We don't have to cut to a commercial. So I mean it allows us to really do... It's the correct phrasing. It's evolution. We've been able to evolve and I think it's been improvement. Some shows maybe doesn't affect so much, but I think with our show it really allowed us to step up the game and I fans appreciate that. That's why I think it's bigger and better than ever."

It's exciting knowing that more Criminal Minds: Evolution is already on the way when the next season hasn't premiered yet. But now that will just make these upcoming episodes even better. Filming has completed for Season 2 but it wouldn't be surprising if the finale ended on yet another cliffhanger. That's still several weeks away, so for now, fans will just have to tune in to Season 2, premiering tomorrow, June 6, on Paramount+. New episodes will drop weekly. Season 3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution will be coming soon.

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