‘Criminal Minds’ Reboot Officially Coming to Paramount+, But With 1 Key Difference

Criminal Minds may have wrapped up its 15-season run just last year, but the CBS procedural is already getting a reboot. As part of the new Paramount+ streaming service, ViacomCBS is working to expand the Criminal Minds franchise over the course of a two-year plan. (You can subscribe to Paramount+ with a free trial here.)

Deadline reports that Julie McNamara, EVP of development and programming at Paramount+, explained that the streaming service would feature a “suite of new projects” to appeal to the “culture’s evergrowing obsession with crime procedurals.”

However, the reboot will look a little different to die-hard fans. The original series featured a team of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit agents, who are tasked with analyzing a suspect’s behavior in order to help local law enforcement solve crimes and used a Crime of the Week format. Details about the reboot are scarce, but it was revealed that it will be serialized, with the team focusing on a single case over the course of 10 episodes.

Main cast members rotated in and out over the seasons, including Mandy Patinkin, Shemar Moore, Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler, Matthew Gray Gubler, Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster. There have been no official announcements over who will be returning for the reboot at this time, but talks are currently underway with the cast members from the final season about joining in this next phase of the franchise. The creative team is also currently forming, and longtime Criminal Minds executive producer/showrunner Erica Messer is once again expected to run the show.

All fifteen seasons of the show’s original run will be available to stream on Paramount+, which will be a huge draw for subscribers. The first twelve seasons are currently available on Netflix, where it has been doing absolutely massive numbers. It was the third most-streamed show on the platform in 2020, just behind The Office and Grey’s Anatomy, with 590M hours viewed last year.

Paramount+ is set to drop on March 4, and it is going to be a major contender in the streaming service war, bringing together Epix, live news and sports, programming from MTV, BET, Comedy Central, CBS, and other ViacomCBS networks. “We’re accelerating our plans for an expanded subscription service, building off CBS All Access, with major changes coming this summer, as we track towards the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed product,” ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish explained last year. “Audiences want entertainment on demand and news, sports and live events. We’ll be the service that gives them what they want, how they want it, all in one place, and at a great value.”

Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.