‘Criminal Minds’: Paget Brewster Updates Status of Paramount+ Revival

After just a single television season off the air, Criminal Minds is making a comeback on Paramount+, the new streaming platform from ViacomCBS. Since the order was officially given the green light in February, there have not been many updates on the project. Paget Brewster, who starred as Emily Prentiss on 12 of the show’s original 15 seasons, offered an update on the project, confirming that everyone who starred in the show’s last four seasons has been approached to return.

“We’re very thankful that they came to everyone who was in the cast for the last four seasons… They came to all of us and said, ‘would you all come back?’” Brewster told ComicBook in a recent interview to promote her new animated series, Birdgirl. “And every one of us who can, who isn’t already signed on to another show, we’ve been negotiating this.”

Brewster said the team is excited about coming back as a streaming show instead, which could give the new Criminal Minds a chance to go in a different direction from the original CBS series. “We’re doing our darnedest, and everyone’s trying to make this happen. We really enjoy each other, and we really enjoy how much our fans like the show,” she said, before going on to note how Netflix has helped the show reach a new audience. The first 12 seasons of Criminal Minds are still available on Netflix, while the last three seasons are only available on Paramount+.

“Now we have all these new fans, who have been binging it on Netflix, in a different age group,” the former Community star told ComicBook. “When people used to say to me, ‘You’re on that show Criminal Minds,’ I’d say ‘yeah, your grandma watches it.’ Now it’s a whole new generation and we have teenagers watching. It’s crazy.”

Paramount+ confirmed the Criminal Minds revival was in the works in February, a few weeks after it was rumored. The new show is expected to have a different format, with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit taking on a single case over 10 episodes, instead of investigating single “Crime of the Week” cases. Most of the original creative team is expected to return, including executive producer and showrunner Erica Messer.

Criminal Minds was produced by ABC Signature and CBS Television Studios, which also made the true-crime spinoff The Real Criminal Minds for Paramont+. In addition to Brewster, Criminal Minds Season 15 also starred Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Matthew Gray Gubler as Dr. Spencer Reid, A.J. Cook as “JJ” Jareau, Kristin Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, Daniel Henney as Matt Simmons, and Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez. The series finale, which was also the show’s 324th episode, aired in February 2020. Disclaimer: PopCulture.com is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.