‘Criminal Minds’ Reboot: Paramount+ Gives Development Update

The Criminal Minds reboot on Paramount+ is “still very much in development,” despite remarks one cast member made to the contrary this summer. After the streamer announced last February that it planned to bring back the original series for a 10-episode reboot, Nicole Clemens, President at Paramount+’s Original Scripted Series, gave Deadline an update on its progress.

“We are still very much in development on Criminal Minds. We’ll have more to share on that soon but it is alive and well,” she said. Clemens took on her role at the streamer last summer and told the outlet that any delay in the reboot was due to an executive shuffle at the company as opposed to anything to do with the project itself.

After Criminal Minds bid farewell to the BAU after its 15th season, Paramount+ announced it planned to get the gang back together for one final case over 10 episodes. Cast members throughout the CBS show’s run have included Mandy Patinkin, Shemar Moore, Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler, Matthew Gray Gubler, Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini, Adam Rodriguez, AJ Cook and Paget Brewster, among others. Most, if not all members from the show’s final season, are expected to return for the reboot. 

Speculation sparked over the summer that Criminal Minds‘ reboot had stalled out when Brewster, who played Emily Prentiss throughout the majority of the show’s initial run, told fans she had no update on the production. “Sadly, we think it’s dead,” she said at the time. “I’ll let you know if there is any progress but it seems unlikely. Which is a bummer.”

There’s plenty of room for the BAU crew to pick up where they left off with Season 15. Showrunner Erica Messer told TV Insider at the time of the finale that she would have loved to see Prentiss nominated as the first female director of the FBI if the show continued, Reid balancing his crime-solving skills with teaching and Jennifer “JJ” Jareau possibly running her own field office somewhere. “Rossi’s still going to be consulting. [He’s] never going to give it up, and they’ll be lucky to have him and have his brains still working on cases,” she continued, adding, “It’s fun to imagine, and that’s why we wanted to leave it open-ended and let you know Garcia’s moving on but she’s not far away and the rest of the team will still be catching the bad guys every week.”