Warning! Spoilers ahead for Season 4, Episode 9 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, “Badder Blood,” streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.

The penultimate episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution’s fourth season on the 2026 TV schedule was intense, and that's putting it lightly. Already, this season has been a roller coaster of emotions that kicked off with the death of a beloved character. Then, in the second-to-last episode, another character was killed, keeping the action going all the way until the end. Now, the showrunner has opened up about how saving a different person played into this death.

In Thursday’s episode, “Badder Blood,” Paul F. Tompkins’ Brian Garrity made yet another appearance, and nearly met his demise at the hands of this season’s unsub, The Fan/James Crowley (Justin Kirk). While he made it out alive, the same cannot be said for Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie, who has been recurring as one of The Fan’s victims, Lance. Speaking about these two outcomes, showrunner Erica Messer told TV Insider why Lance was killed off in place of Brian, and it makes sense:

Tompkins first appeared as Brian, a conspiracy theorist, came in Season 15 of Criminal Minds’ original run. He popped up again in three episodes of Evolution's second season, and he had a bigger arc during Season 4 thanks to his podcast and occasionally helping the BAU and even the villainous Elias Voit (Zach Gilford).

The penultimate episode saw this season’s unsub, The Fan (Justin Kirk), luring Brian to a warehouse where his ex-wife was being held hostage. At one point, Brian is strapped to a device that would strangle him if his ex-wife left, and he ultimately told her to run when she had the chance. Luckily, the BAU got to him in time and revived him.

Just like the BAU, I have a love-hate relationship with Brian. He definitely makes things interesting, and you never know what you’re going to get with him. It's been fun seeing his return for Season 4, and I’m relieved knowing that he’s okay. I just wonder if this means we'll be seeing him more for Season 5.

As for Lance, he had helped The Fan in exchange for his ex, who was also being held hostage. Unfortunately, after trying to take the team off of The Fan’s scent and doing what he wanted, Lance went to find his ex before dying in an explosive and gruesome way. And as much as I have loved seeing Connor Storrie on Criminal Minds, I will definitely take Brian over Lance, mostly because Brian has grown on me.

With all that being said and the penultimate episode ending the way it did, I am curious to see what they have planned for the Season 4 finale. Also, based on the choices made about Brian and Lance, I'll be curious to see how the overarching story is impacted by Brian's survival and Lance's death.

If this last episode tells us anything, there will be a lot to look forward to in this upcoming finale, and fans won’t want to miss it. So, make sure to tune into the Season 4 finale of Criminal Minds: Evolution when it drops on Thursday on Paramount+.

Warning! Spoilers ahead from the Season 4 premiere of Criminal Minds: Evolution. You can stream it now with a Paramount+ subscription.

The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit is officially back with the fourth season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which is also the 19^th season overall of Criminal Minds. The first two episodes of the new season dropped on the 2026 TV schedule, and they were certainly intense, as per usual. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get through the episodes without tears, and I’m heartbroken over the surprise death of a fan-favorite character.

Episode 2, “Cluster,” kicked off with Adam Rodriguez’s Luke Alvez in a cemetery, sitting by a grave, clearly upset. As the team grew more concerned about him, viewers were given flashbacks throughout the episode showing Luke finding out bad news about his dog, Roxy, who eventually died after a tumor spread. As a dog person and as someone who has had to say goodbye to two of them, one as recently as last year, this hit particularly hard, and I’m not the only one who was tearing up.

Showrunner Erica Messer told CinemaBlend what the reactions to this moment were like as they were making the episode, and I can only imagine how hard it was to film:

Of course, Criminal Minds has lost characters over the years; most recently, Josh Stewart’s Will died, and that was definitely hard to watch. But there is just something about an animal dying that hits differently, and when it’s a dog, it’s even worse. Also, the fact that this development came out of nowhere was rough because there wasn’t really a lot of time to comprehend what was going on until the show revealed it.

However, with Roxy’s death, fans of this great Paramount+ show also got to learn more about Luke. Rodriguez joined Criminal Minds in Season 12, and while fans have learned about him over the seasons and have heard about Roxy, with this episode, we really got to find out just how Roxy came into his life. The dog was helping Luke after the military, and they really bonded. So, Messer wanted to hone in on that connection and Luke’s military life:

As much as I love learning about Luke and love that we’re still learning about him after seven seasons, I really wish they had found a different way to do that. At the very least, this might be better than the show dragging out Roxy’s unfortunate diagnosis throughout the season. Just getting it out of the way, while very heartbreaking, rips the band-aid right off.

It will be interesting to see how Roxy’s death will continue to affect Luke as the season goes on. Losing a pet is hard, and the grief doesn’t go away automatically. He certainly has the support of the entire team, especially Garcia, and at least he has work to keep him focused. Fans will just have to tune in to new episodes of Season 4, dropping on Thursday on Paramount+, to see what happens.

Each season of Criminal Minds: Evolution can obviously boasts the stellar ensemble cast that's been at the heart of the BAU's investigations for years (with some minimal turnover), but the streaming thriller is also quite dependable when it comes to recurring guest stars. Season 19 is hardly an exception, with both new additions and returning faves (like Paul F. Tompkins!) on the way, as well as a massive star on the rise in Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie.

The book-to-screen adaptation of Rachel Reid’s hockey romance novel took the world by storm when it debuted in Canada and the U.S. in November 2025, introducing viewers to Connor Storrie's Ilya Rozanov. The show became a massive hit, putting the highly fashionable Storrie on the map to the point where his presence in Criminal Minds: Evolution's new season suddenly became a huge selling point.

Which seems like a brilliant move on the parts of the Criminal Minds casting team, but that's not quite the case. When showrunner Erica Messer spoke with CinemaBlend about the impending 19th season, she told me that was all incredibly lucky timing. As she put it:

That's gotta make all involved feel great, knowing that they worked with the talented actor before right before he became a household name. Not that Connor Storrie was a complete nobody before 2025 or anything, but the difference between then and now can't be denied. And I feel like we might need to watch out for Garcia getting flirty with him, regardless of his sexual preferences.

Unfortunately, Criminal Minds: Evolution didn't also cast Hudson Williams for Season 19. But we can look forward to seeing Storrie's character in the mix for more than just a single ep. As Messer told me:

Four out of ten episodes nearly makes him a recurring star, but we still have yet to be shown what we can expect from Storrie's arrival. I think the only time he's been show in trailers was mid-scream, which is hard to parse information from. But it's probably safe to assume he'll either be a total creepshow monster, or he'll be the victim of a total creepshow monster.

Will he be sharing the screen with any of the other big guest stars? It seems likely, just based on the math alone. Erica Messer excitedly shared a longer list of the new and returning actors, saying:

Well, hey, if there are indeed certain guest stars whose names haven't yet been revealed, maybe they DID get Hudson Williams for an arc. Unfortunately, that list doesn't include past series regulars such as Shemar Moore or Matthew Gray Gubler, so it's hard to know whether we'll see any of those past faves back on the small screen.

Check out the latest trailer for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 below!

With a renewed focus on Zach Gilford's Voit in the new season that will change up his role within the BAU's outskirts, Criminal Minds: Evolution is set to kick off its nineteenth season on THursday, May 28, via Paramount+ subscription.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 is done and, while no more new episodes of the Paramount+ revival will be airing on the 2025 TV schedule, there's still good news. The series has already been renewed for Season 4, meaning the BAU will be back for more adventures at some point. The team won't be alone, either. Zach Gilford’s Elias Voit is also returning to the fold and, after showrunner Erica Messer teased what's in store for him, I’m excited about the promise she made.

Voit has been causing trouble for the team since the start of Evolution and, despite Season 3 finally moving back into the unsub-of-the-week format, Voit still didn’t go away. He remains the only unsub who has been on the show consistently for three consecutive seasons, whether he’s an asset for the FBI or working against the organization. He’s certainly become a character that viewers love to hate and maybe even hate to love. On that note, Messer recently told Entertainment Weekly how Voit will be involved in Season 4:

So the EP promised that Voit will be in every single episode of Season 4, and that's certainly a game-changing development! That's especially true when you consider what he was still capable of in Season 3 when he was in the hospital. Viewers saw him help the BAU in a Hannibal Lecter arc while in prison, but it sounds like things will be different moving forward.

What makes this all very interesting is that the team knows what to expect from Voit and how to get under his skin in order to really use him. While there's not telling what exactly will be in store come Season 4, Messer name-dropped a notable serial killer while teasing Voit's further development in future episodes:

At this point, fans are likely familiar with Voit's twisted nature and manipulative tendencies. He's done so many horrible things, and the BAU has him at their disposal. However, it probably won’t be so easy getting to to the bottom of the many secrets that he holds, including the details about this whole serial killer network. Still, with the character appearing in every episode next season, the writers should have plenty of time to really dig into the various aspects of Voit, which is a prospect that excites me.

Production on Season 4 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which is the 19^th overall season of Criminal Minds, kicked off in May, with plenty of returning stars on hand. As for any returning guest stars, that may be a bit trickier, as Messer previously explained how complicated it is locking down actors months in advance. As the producer explained, it's tough to write for a specific character (played by a major actor) months in advance when you don't know what their schedule will be when filming begins.

It might still be a while until a premiere date for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 4 is announced but, for right now, I'm just satisfied knowing that Elias Voit's role is about to grow. In the meantime, fans can stream all seasons of Criminal Minds, including Evolution, with a Paramount+ subscription now.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 was arguably one of the most thrilling streaming releases of the summer, as the BAU team returned to not only deal with Zach Gilford’s Voit all over again, but a whole new crew of killers. Despite the finale releasing for Paramount+ subscribers in early August, the crime drama is currently ranking at #2 on the streamer’s list of Top 10 Shows. Seeing Criminal Minds still doing so well nearly a full month after its finale made me think back to what Paget Brewster told CinemaBlend about Clark Gregg joining the cast, and it’s enough to make me want to watch the season all over again.

For some perspective on why I’m so impressed that Criminal Minds is still on Paramount+’s Top 10, it’s worth noting that the show has already begun filming Season 3 before Season 2 even dropped out of streaming relevance. At the time of writing, it holds the #2 rank on the list, behind David Boreanaz’s SEAL Team – which is currently still releasing new episodes – at #1 and NCIS at #3. (NCIS returns for Season 22 in the fall 2024 TV schedule.) I’m not saying that Clark Gregg joining the cast is why it’s doing so well, but he was one of the changes for the new season.

And when I spoke with Paget Brewster about Prentiss getting stoned with JJ and what was in store for the high-stakes Season 2 finale, I also asked what it has been to add the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum to the ensemble this time around. Brewster didn’t disappoint, as she laughed and said:

While plenty of people still recognize Paget Brewster from Friends, the actress is better known for her drama work nowadays thanks to more than 200 episodes of Criminal Minds over nearly twenty years. Still, she flexed her comedy muscles for the sadly short-lived How I Met Your Father to make out with Clark Gregg while playing Hilary Duff’s parents on Hulu. It certainly sounds like the reunion over the Evolution Season 2 table read made for a memorable Zoom encounter! Brewster went on to praise what Gregg brought to Criminal Minds as FBI Director Ray Madison:

Paget Brewster isn’t the only member of the Criminal Minds team who would like to get Clark Gregg back in the future, as the showrunner feels the same way. Showrunner Erica Messer shared her own thoughts on what the Avengers alum brought to the show as well as her hopes for what’s possible in Season 3:

While it remains to be seen if Clark Gregg will turn up again on Criminal Minds: Evolution, Paramount+ gave an early renewal for Season 3 that has allowed filming to already begin. There’s no saying at this point when the third season will be ready to premiere, but it’s safe to say that we all will have plenty of time to rewatch Season 2 during the wait. Both seasons of Evolution as well as the first fifteen Criminal Minds seasons that aired on CBS are streaming on Paramount+ now.

The second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution came to a thrilling end with a finale that kept Prentiss' life in danger from the very start to almost the very end. Fortunately, all the good guys were alive and as well as could be hoped by the time the final credits rolled in early August, with Voit getting the bloody cliffhanger. Now, filming has officially kicked off on the third season, and seeing the behind-the-scenes pics reminded me of what showrunner Erica Messer told CinemaBlend about those shout-outs to Reid and Hotch in Season 2.

Criminal Minds: Evolution was renewed for Season 3 – or Season 18 of the show overall – before Season 2 even premiered back in June of the 2024 TV schedule for fans with Paramount+ subscriptions, so there was no need to worry about the show's future as the new episodes released. Filming has begun on the new season less than a month after the Season 2 finale ended on a huge Voit cliffhanger (which showrunner Erica Messer explained for us), and the cast are all smiles in the BTS images. Take a look:

While it seems like a very safe bet that those smiles won't extend to their characters in Season 18 unless Prentiss breaks out her snacks again, it's great to see the stars of such a dark show looking so bright and sunny behind the scenes. Of course, these stars don't make up the entire cast from the original run of the series, with actors including Matthew Gray Gubler, Shemar Moore, and Thomas Gibson absent from the revival so far.

Gibson's absence as Hotch isn't altogether surprising after his dramatic exit from the popular TV show back in 2016, although Hotch wasn't killed off or given a permanent fate when he was written out of early Season 12. Moore's Derek Morgan had already left the BAU, so his absence isn't too jarring either. Spencer Reid is still part of the FBI, however; Gubler just hasn't appeared due to schedule conflicts. All three characters were mentioned by Jill Gideon (Felicity Huffman) in Season 2, with Prentiss confirming that Reid was on "sabbatical."

And two of the former series regulars got some particular attention. There was one notable Easter egg for Reid in the course of the season, and Hotch was clearly on Prentiss' mind in at least the first couple episodes. When I spoke with showrunner Erica Messer about Evolution Season 2, she explained how important it is for the show to include nods to these characters who were so key to the show in earlier years:

If anything, it would have been bizarre if Jill hadn't mentioned Reid, Hotch, and Morgan. Her questions about them did remind me that we have a lot more closure for Morgan than the other two, as he got a pretty great exit on his own terms. Hotch's exit had to be abrupt due to the actor's real-life firing, so there may never be great closure for the character. As for Reid... well, we can always hope that he'll be back as Evolution continues.

When it comes to Jill as the character who was the right person to ask after these characters, Erica Messer only had high praise for Felicity Huffman and her scenes with Joe Mantegna. The showrunner said:

Huffman is likely best known professionally for her eight seasons in the Desperate Housewives cast, and Desperate Housewives definitely isn't in the same genre as Criminal Minds. The actress isn't pictured in any of the BTS images, but that's far from confirmation of whether she's not going to be in Evolution Season 3. For now, we can only wait for news about casting as filming gets underway.

I'd personally love to at least get a Reid cameo, but I also think that the first two seasons of Evolution worked well enough on their own that the show can really continue indefinitely as is. While there are no details at the time of writing of when exactly to expect the next batch of episodes, you can revisit all seventeen seasons of the overall series streaming on Paramount+ now.

The latest season of Criminal Minds: Evolution has come to an end in the 2024 TV schedule. The fight to catch the unsub in the high-stakes Season 2 finale got very personal for Prentiss in particular after discovering that the elusive fifth point of Gold Star was none other than Pete Bailey, the brother of slain FBI agent Doug Bailey. Fortunately, Prentiss escaped with her life and without further bloodshed to close the case, but Voit ended the season with a bloody twist. He was stabbed in prison after being moved into gen pop, so I asked showrunner Erica Messer about what the future holds for Zach Gilford's character, and the actor himself has a spinoff pitch.

What The Showrunner Told Us For What's Next For Voit

Zach Gilford's character had been convinced that moving into general population in prison wouldn't lead to him being murdered by other inmates because he'd be incarcerated under his birth name of Lee Duvall rather than Elias Voit. In fact, he was reveling in his confidence that he'd be safe as much as he was reveling in his power over JJ earlier in the season. Instead, he was shanked by other prisoners while on laundry duty in the final moments of Evolution Season 2, and the finale ended without confirming his fate.

Voit did manage to do some damage before he took a knife to to belly by splashing bleach in one of his attackers' face, but he was not in good shape by the time the final credits shockingly rolled. When showrunner Erica Messer spoke with CinemaBlend about plans to continue's Voit's storyline despite being stabbed, she shared:

Voit helped the BAU in a Hannibal Lecter-esque role in Season 2, much to the dismay of pretty much every member of the team. Rossi was still suffering effects of the trauma from being held captive by Voit in Evolution Season 1, and JJ had to do her job despite knowing that Gilford's character had a hand in the BAUgate dark website full of deepfake porn of her.

The villain was able to really wear them down thanks to Evolution's serialized nature compared to the more procedural format of the original series on CBS. When I noted that fans might not have gotten as much of Zach Gilford as Voit back in the CBS days, the showrunner responded:

Criminal Minds: Evolution was renewed for Season 3 back in June, just one day before the Season 2 premiere, so fans went into the finale without any need to worry that there would never be payoff for the Voit cliffhanger. That wasn't the case when the season was being shot, however, so how confident was Erica Messer that the show wouldn't be cancelled with one very big unresolved twist? I asked the showrunner that very question, and she shared:

Despite fans heading into hiatus with the comfort of a Season 3 renewal and now confirmation from Messer that Zach Gilford will be back, that doesn't mean that he'll be back behind bars or taunting the BAU like he was this latest time around. Rossi's arc in Season 2 is proof enough that Gilford can be present in a scene even when the real Voit isn't.

That of course doesn't determine that Voit died and we'll just see him via Rossi's hallucinations moving forward, but there are certainly more questions than answers. And that brings us to the actor's idea for a spinoff centered on his character!

Zach Gilford's Spinoff Idea

With Voit confirmed to return in some form or other, it's currently a waiting game to find out what Erica Messer has planned for him in Season 3 of Evolution, which will be Season 18 of Criminal Minds overall. For his part, Zach Gilford spoke with Us Weekly about the series that is currently available with a Paramount+ subscription, sharing his idea for a sister show to Criminal Minds:

Voit certainly proved himself to be a slippery bad guy over his first two seasons, and I have no trouble believing that he has connections to get himself some resources if he was to escape prison. There is the question of what he'd be doing, though! Gilford went on:

I would watch that! Even if a Voit spinoff is unlikely to happen, a future standalone episode or two about his life and exploits might be interesting. It's clear that Gilford is invested in his character after two seasons as the killer, to the point that he had an unexpected take on Voit's crimes earlier this year.

It's much too early to expect Paramount+ to announce a premiere date for Season 3, but at least there's no question of whether or not the Voit cliffhanger will ever be resolved. As the wait continues for what comes next, you can always revisit both seasons of Evolution so far streaming on Paramount+ now as well as the fifteen original seasons of Criminal Minds that aired on CBS.

During the lengthy (but not devastating) wait between Criminal Minds’ CBS end and its streaming debut on Paramount+, many viewers were under the impression that Kirsten Vangsness’ tech whiz Garcia and Adam Rodriguez’s Alvez would be spending some of that time together between the sheets. But Evolution very quickly snuffed out those sultry theories by revealing they’d kept things more friendly than flirty after a single date. And it then upped that ante by pairing Garcia up with Ryan-James Hatanaka’s Tyler Green, her vengeful, Sicarius-duping informant. And it sounds like her morally dubious situation will get even stickier when Season 2 arrives. (Or Season 17, depending on how you’re counting things.)

Showrunner Erica Messer has confirmed that fans will be seeing more from Tyler when Criminal Minds: Evolution returns. And while some of it may have to do with Zach Gilford’s serial killer ringleader (and possibly the whole “Gold Star” mystery), it’ll also involve Garcia’s romantic interests. Here’s how the crime drama’s big boss put it to TV Insider:

Not only was there a spark between the two, but Garcia totally gave Tyler the best sex of his life, and nearly put him in a catatonic state after doing so. But as Messer hinted at, Criminal Minds characters beyond JJ (and Rossi, every so often) aren’t always so well equipped to balance romantic relationships and instincts with job duties and stressed-out mindsets. Of course, that’s essentially why work flings, as regretful as those might be, are so commonplace. (Even in real life, as evidenced by certain former GMA3 anchors.) Aisha Tyler’s Lewis knows all about how up and down those can be.

But guess what? Those who were hoping for Alvez and Garcia to stick it out are in luck. Or, at the very least, they’ll be able to clutch onto those hopes for a bit longer, as Erica Messer said the creative team will be tangling Kirsten Vangsness & Co. up a bit within a love triangle. In her words:

This sounds about as far from a sleazy sex-fueled triangle as it gets, with Garcia pondering a worthwhile future with someone like Tyler, all while Alvez is all smiles sitting in the dugout. I do love that Garcia is in the driver’s seat of her own romances, though, as opposed to the other way around. In that sense, I’m not sure who I’d rather see her with in the long run. Wouldn’t want to mess up the dynamic with Alvez by taking things too far too quickly, but his chemistry with Garcia is obviously more built up than what she’s got with Tyler. 

I suppose in the end, the most important thing is for her to date someone that currently has zero ties to any unidentified serial killers. Also, zero ties to any incarcerated serial killers whose cases are still actively affecting one or more BAU agents. It’s not that limiting a specification, I’d think.

While we’re on the subject of love triangles, with AJ Cook’s JJ and Josh Stewart’s Will being brought up already as well, fans with Paramount+ subscriptions are no doubt hoping for Matthew Gray Gubler to return to the franchise as Reid. Which would almost definitely involve some kind of romantic foibles, even if JJ and Will’s relationship seems as strong as ever. He even got shot! In the vest, but still. 

To that end, Erica Messer did say the show will embrace any availability that Josh Stewart can provide, given his busy career. So what would happen if he couldn’t return and Gubler could? Hmmm? It doesn’t matter, because this is about Garcia’s happiness, dammit. 

Should Kirsten Vangsness’ Garcia keep getting hot and heavy with Tyler Green, or does Alvez deserve another shot? Someone mod a fighting game with those two facing each other, and let me know who wins. 

Spoilers ahead for the season finale of Criminal Minds: Evolution, “Dead End,” so be warned if you haven't watched!

After nine episodes centering on its season-spanning UnSub Elias Voit, this season of the quasi-revival Criminal Minds: Evolution delviered a tumultuous finale that finally saw Zach Gilford’s mastermind serial killer getting arrested, with his family finally learning of his sinister double life. The episode also heightened the mystery surrounding the super-secret government project dubbed "Gold Star," and showrunner Erica Messer revealed Season 2 will explore that deeper mystery while using Voit for its take on Hannibal Lecter. 

Gold Star came up when Deputy Director Bailey was trying to negotiate for Rossi’s safe return, and it quickly became clear their previous history was important enough that no one could actually talk about it with others potentially listening in. And whatever the project was, it looks like Voit is the only person left with intimate knowledge of it, as he callously shot Bailey dead in the moment to create just such a situation. 

Now that Voit’s been arrested, with Rossi once again safe and sound (if still seeing visions of his dead wife), Erica Messer tells Variety that Gilford's twisted villain is still going to play a part in the upcoming season, with his Gold Star info giving him a Hannibal Lecter-esque hold over the BAU agents. According to Messer:

It’s clear that whatever Voit knows about Gold Star is important enough to those in the government to keep him safe and content while in custody, presumably to stop him from sharing with others. (Although perhaps finding out more will be the BAU's goal.) It's not clear if Messer's reveal means he'll be the crux of the plot for Season 2, but even if not, his continued presence is more proof that Criminal Minds: Evolution is different from its CBS counterpart by way of serialized plotting. Not only did this season focus on mainly one UnSub storyline, with the weekly cases all connecting back to Voit, but now that story will bleed into future episodes in a big way.

Zach Gilford has definitely been killing it as Elias Voit, pun unintended, and seeing the aftermath of everything will be one storyline that is hopefully explored in Season 2. Despite his horrible ways, he tried to keep his wife and daughters safe for as long as he could, but it ended up just not being enough. The final episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution were fun to watch to see what his next move would be, and now that he’s been caught and his family likely not wanting anything to do with him, it will make him even more determined to do whatever he has planned. And it wouldn’t be surprising if that somehow involved whatever Gold Star is.

Meanwhile, whether Reid and Simmons will return is still up in the air, since Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney are busy with other projects. It’s always possible that they could make short cameos in the form of video calls or something similar, but hopefully, fans can still look forward to them being brought up from time to time. I wonder...do they know what Gold Star is all about?

Watch all 10 episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution now with a Paramount+ subscription! An estimated premiere date for Season 2 has yet to be announced, but it’s still possible it could be part of the 2023 TV schedule, so keep a look out!

The end is near for the current season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, and fans may be in for quite the ride. After Evolution’s season-long UnSub, Zach Gilford previewed the second-to-last episode, and showrunner Erica Messer is now teasing the finale, and it comes after the series finally revealed J.J.’s fate in the midseason premiere.

In the midseason finale of Criminal Minds: Evolution, J.J. and Luke were checking out a lead when there was an explosion, and fans were left to wonder what happened to them. Now the fandom is getting treated, as they not only know what happened to J.J., but they also have a sense of what’s going down in the finale, thanks to a recent interview that Erica Messer did.

The Explosion’s Aftermath

Ahead of next week’s return, the official Criminal Minds Twitter posted a brand-new clip from the episode, showing the immediate aftermath of the explosion. While J.J. seems to be fine, the team is worried about someone else:

Leave it to Criminal Minds to reveal the fate of one character in danger but not the other, making it hard for fans to be relieved as they continue to worry. Surely they won’t kill off Luke; at the very least, he’s just injured or missing, right? At least it looks like we will finally be getting the team on the jet once again, and that “Wheels up” sounded so good. But what does this mean for the remaining episodes?

What’s Next

In a new interview with TV Insider, Erica Messer talked all about Evolution. When asked about setting up another season, Messer teased that storylines will be able to continue, and while there will be closure, there will still be some loose ends:

It’s hard to tell just what will happen in these final episodes, but it’s nice knowing that there will definitely be a nice ending while also setting up a potential season. Since episodes are longer on Paramount+ than on CBS, the show has had the advantage to tell more stories, even though the season is shorter. After all these stories, seeing how they all come together will be something to look forward to, but whether everyone will have a happy ending has yet to be seen.

Something else that fans will surely be looking forward to is some more information on Reid and Simmons’ whereabouts. The premier mentioned the two are on an assignment that can’t really be talked about, but it will be greatly needed in future episodes and a big part of a storyline, according to Messer. It should be interesting to see how that is brought up. If there is another season, hopefully, we’ll see Matthew Gray Gubler and/or Daniel Henney return.

New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution return on Thursday, January 12, and can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. Also, be sure to check out CinemaBlend’s 2023 TV schedule to see what else to look forward to this year.

Although Criminal Minds originally ended less than three years ago, it didn’t take too long for the CBS procedural's streaming revival to come to fruition. When Criminal Minds: Evolution was announced, the majority of the cast was revealed to be coming back for the more serialized new story arc. One notable absence, of course, has been Matthew Gray Gubler as Dr. Spencer Reid, but showrunner Erica Messer has cracked open the door to hoping for the possibility of Reid’s return. 

The premiere of Criminal Minds: Evolution explained where Reid and Daniel Henney’s Matt Simmons are, in small part, saying they’re off on an assignment that can’t really be discussed in full. Messer told TV Insider that general lack of info is purposeful, and spoke to the idea that fans will get to hear more about Reid and Simmons in the future, which may not be all. In her words:

While fans may not actually see Reid in the flesh here in this initial season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, getting more information on his whereabouts should hopefully keep everyone at bay for now. He hasn’t been mentioned very much in the first five episodes, outside of memories being shared, but it sounds like the team getting closer to cracking the serial killer network could bring more information about Reid and Simmons’ assignment, in whatever capacity that is. Or maybe it'll be someone from Deputy Director Doug Bailey's team who coughs up more info about the duo.

It’s definitely a disappointment that Matthew Gray Gubler wasn’t able to return for Evolution, but Eric Messer is staying hopeful that something could work out in the future, and seems to imply that fans should hold onto that same hope. Should schedules align in the best of ways, and should Paramount+ order up a second season of the revival, Reid's return could very easily come to life. Even if it doesn’t happen, though, she says that she and everyone are rooting for him and Daniel Henney for their respective projects post-Criminal Minds. Here's how she put it:

Matthew Gray Gubler is definitely missed on the Criminal Minds: Evolution set. His former co-star and fan-favorite ship-mate A.J. Cook had a sweet response to a recent Instagram post of his, as well as Aisha Tyler, with each clearly missing the actor while still supporting him in his recent ventures. It’s unknown if MGG will return to his beloved role in the future, but it’s nice to know that he still keeps in touch with some of the cast, if not all, and Erica Messer and the crew tried their hardest to make his return work. 

Despite Gubler and Henney not being on Criminal Minds: Evolution, fans have still been loving the Paramount+ series. With episodes being longer on the streamer than on CBS and the season being as disturbing as ever, Criminal Minds’ comeback has definitely been refreshing. It should be interesting to see how the remainder of the season goes and how exactly Reid and Simmons’ secret assignment will play into the remaining episodes.

Stream the first five episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution now with a Paramount+ subscription, with new episodes returning on Thursday, January 12!

Everyone's favorite FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit is back, with Criminal Minds: Evolution officially premiering on Thanksgiving day. Tecnically the 16th season of the beloved CBS procedural, the revival has the BAU’s elite agets returning to the small screen after 2+ years with a season-long mission centering on a deadly and influential UnSub. Showrunner Eric Messer has opened up about shifting from network TV to streaming, and the surprisingly easy transition she and the crew had putting out longer episodes.  

Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna recently opened up about being able to swear a lot more for the revival, and considering the streaming eps are around 10 minutes longer than the weekly broadcast installments, that definitely gives Rossi more to bitch about. One might also think essentially a 20% increase in runtimes would involve a pretty hefty uptick in behind-the-scenes efforts, but Messer explained to Deadline how much things actually stayed the same, more or less. Though the runtimes may be different, the production and filming process didn't change very much, which allowed the actors and directors more time to live in the scenes. In her words:

With the episodes being noticably longer, fans are able to settle more into this somewhat darker season, but without the need for another 3-4 big action sequences or dialogue scenes. Instead, the camera is allowed to linger that much longer on Rossi or Prentiss' face after they hear terrible news, and the measured and methodical introduction of Zach Gilford's freaky UnSub is that much more effective, without the need to chop scenes to just the meatiest moments. For a tension-hinging show like Criminal Minds, that's a huge advantage over broadcast network restrictions.

A growing number of shows have shifted from network TV to streaming in recent years, and it’s always eye-opening to learn how the process differs from platform to the next, regardless of genre. It sounds like Messer and her creative team are using the extra runtime advantageously. Whether we're getting more shots of body parts in jars, or more or Garcia and Alvez's quasi-fliring, the crime drama having more wiggle room is a plus for everyone on both sides of the screen.

Just two episodes in, Criminal Minds: Evolution has already proven its subtitle to be true, with the characters each going through their own ups and downs beyond the case, and more room to explore those ups and downs in meaningful ways. And since Season 16 is as disturbing as ever, these early days are probably when the BAU is the least doomed, so beware the future. 

With Criminal Minds: Evolution having premiered for those with Paramount+ subscriptions, fans can look forward to seeing their BAU favorites weekly once again, albeit minus Matthew Gray Gubler’s Dr. Spencer Reid and Daniel Henney’s Matt Simmons. (Expanding other characters' narratives is probably also a little easier with two of those characters being gone this time around.) 

Criminal Minds: Evolution debuts new episodes on Paramount+ every Thursday, and head to our 2022 TV schedule and our 2023 premiere guide to see all the other new and returning shows that are yet to arrive.

While the majority of major TV revivals take a while to return to the small screen after their initial exits, that’s not entirely the case for the upcoming continuation series Criminal Minds: Evolution, which will debut on Paramount+ less than three years after its untimely finale at CBS. The crime drama’s transition from linear to streaming will feature some distinct changes, such as a shorter season that will focus on a single case, as opposed to procedural storytelling. Now, showrunner Erica Messer has shed some light on an NSFW addition that she was excited to bring to the world of Criminal Minds now that they were away from broadcast networks.

While speaking to press for Paramount+’s Television Critics Association panel centering on Criminal Minds: Evolution — where it was revealed that the revival will premiere its first two episodes on Thursday, November 24 — Messer was asked if the series was going to be even darker on a streaming platform, with Midnight Mass vet Zach Gilford’s serial killer being focused on throughout the season. Here’s how the showrunner began her answer, which will probably be a relief to anyone nervous about things getting hyper-gory. 

That feeling of newfound sensitivity later in life is something that many parents can likely sympathize with, as certain protective instincts kick in that weren’t so prevalent before. But while Messer may not have wanted Criminal Minds: Evolution to get more visually horrific for everyone streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, she was apparently eager to up the threshold for NSFW language, particularly where Joe Mantegna’s Rossi is concerned. In her words:

While she wasn’t so specific about the kinds of language that Joe Mantegna’s Rossi will be using in Criminal Minds: Evolution, it’s probably easy to assume that it’ll be a fair bit stronger than “son of a bitch” and other language that CBS does allow, if not hyper-frequently. And we don’t even need to make assumptions when it comes to Mantegna’s comfort with using such foul language, as he followed up Messer’s thoughts by saying:

It’s intriguing that Rossi is the only character who was referenced by way of going blue with some of the dialogue. Paget Brewster’s natural new look for Emily Prentiss doesn’t necessarily lend itself well to dropping F-bombs in the heat of an emotional moment, though I feel like Kirsten Vangsness’ surprise return as Penelope Garcia could be ripe for some interesting dialogue additions, especially when her hair is most striking. 

Elsewhere in the panel, Erica Messer shared that Joe Mantegna’s character in particular is going through some personal issues that will have a ripple effect on the rest of the BAU team. So while I’m not so excited to see Rossi facing woes after the joyful wedding party that concluded the CBS run, I am now hoping to see the team leader calling someone a motherfucker at least once an episode. Extra cool points if he uses his Fat Tony voice from The Simpsons. 

Criminal Minds: Evolution will premiere the first two installments of its ten-episode season on Paramount+ on Thursday, November 24, which is Thanksgiving Day for those without a calendar handy. You can find the previous 15 seasons there as well to catch up on before the new story begins. Speaking of calendars, head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other shows are hitting the small screen before the year’s end. 

Spoilers for Criminal Minds’ series finale are discussed below!

Even with the ratings being up this season, Criminal Minds ended its impressively long run with a series finale that saw its characters’ stories conclude after fifteen seasons. Among those to cross the finish line were Penelope Garcia and Spencer Reid, but you may be wondering why their stories ended the way they did.

Before getting to Reid’s ending, this is what happened with Garcia. Criminal Minds ended with Garcia leaving the BAU to work at a non-profit. The BAU subsequently converged for a goodbye party (probably as emotional as the off-screen one) to bid their good friend and colleague a fond farewell. Speaking about Garcia’s ending, Criminal Minds’ showrunner, Erica Messer, told CinemaBlend’s Nick Venable:

The BAU losing Garcia is a significant change for the team. She was their computer expert and even more than that, serving as sort of the "heart" of the team. Criminal Minds’ showrunner reveals that actress Kirsten Vangsness was involved in the conversations surrounding Garcia’s ending, which also included Garcia getting asked out by Luke Alvez. She accepted his invitation to go on a date, so let your mind do the rest!

As for why Garcia ended up making the decision to leave the BAU and work for a non-profit, Criminal Minds’ showrunner has thoughts. It turned out to be a natural progression for the character, who, after years of fighting the darkness, decided to shift her attention elsewhere. On Garcia’s choice to exit the BAU, Erica Messer said:

As for Reid, his ending storyline involved an aspect years in the making, as Criminal Minds found a way to revisit the past as Reid contemplated his future. One that would not include JJ in a romantic capacity. Reid did end up spending some time unconscious during the series finale. Facing a near-fatal injury will do that!

Reid had to decide: life or death? That was not the only choice he had to make either. Criminal Minds’ showrunner, Erica Messer, explained the parallels between Reid and Garcia’s conundrums in the series finale, saying:

As Criminal Minds’ showrunner relates, Reid and Garcia were both arriving at a make-or-break point in their lives. For Reid, hovering between life and death led to some past characters showing up, including Reid’s late girlfriend, Maeve. As long-time fans may have figured out, the seeds for Reid’s final round of hallucinations were sewn seasons ago. On Reid’s story, Criminal Minds’ showrunner, Erica Messer, said:

Having JJ be the one to help Reid sort things out would have been beyond strange at this point. Criminal Minds instead gave Maeve the chance to help Reid sort through his life and death dilemma. Thankfully for fans, Reid decided to stay among the living. An uplifting twist for the series finale. In the end, Reid and Garcia both got a happy ending.

Past seasons of Criminal Minds are streaming on Netflix, along with lots of new 2020 content. If you need something to watch now that Criminal Minds is over on CBS, you can look forward to this winter and spring’s premieres.

Warning! Major spoilers are below for Criminal Minds’ final two episodes, so tread carefully if you haven’t yet watched.

The relatively stereotypical nature of Criminal Minds’ third-to-last episode, “Family Tree,” might have led viewers to the false belief that the CBS drama wouldn’t be going outside the box for its final installments. Thankfully, though, both “Face Off” and the true finale, “And In the End,” were crafted in a way that both spoke to the show’s history and to its future. As it often does, the past allowed for some familiar faces to return, though perhaps not all the familiar faces fans might have expected from a series finale.

Criminal Minds’ showrunner Erica Messer spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the finale’s airing, and our conversation touched upon some of the cameos that did and didn’t happen. So read on to see what she had to say.

Jason Gideon (Ben Savage, Mandy Patinkin)

Expectedly, the penultimate episode put a punctuation mark on the show’s final villain, The Chameleon, and took him out once and for all. But as the team was still in the process of tracking down Everett Lynch (Michael Mosley), Rossi went down into his basement for some reflective thinking, which is where he crossed mental paths with the younger version of Jason Gideon, as portrayed by Ben Savage.

When I asked Erica Messer how great it was to bring Ben Savage back for a final appearance from Jason Gideon – Savage first took on the flashback role in the same season when the character was killed off-screen – here’s what she told me:

Ben Savage’s Gideon drew Rossi into a deeper look why Everett Lynch would have spared Rossi’s life in the first place, and where the weakest link in the information chain was. Fittingly, Gideon disappeared after Rossi realized what the missing piece of the puzzle was.

However, that wasn’t the only time that viewers got to see Jason Gideon on their screens. The final episode utilized footage from the Season 1 premiere, in which Mandy Patinkin’s Jason Gideon was seen and heard once more in the BAU offices.

Maeve Donovan (Beth Riesgraf)

Not to be outdone by Rossi, Reid’s brain was also looking back to the past for some helpful advice and guidance during his unconscious time in the finale. After walking into a Season 1 flashback, Reid then came across his guilt personified in the form of Jayne Atkinson’s Erin Strauss, the former BAU section chief who got murdered in Season 8. Next up was C. Thomas Howell’s George “The Boston Reaper” Foyet, the Unsub in Seasons 4 and 5 who was beaten to death by Thomas Gibson’s Hotch.

But easily the most meaningful of these hallucinatory reunions was with Beth Riesgraf’s Maeve, Reid’s girlfriend who was tragically killed in Season 8 by Michelle Trachtenberg's Diane Turner. Criminal Minds’ showrunner Erica Messer was very happy to bring Riesgraf back to reprise the role, since it was what Reid needed. In her words:

As much as Reid did seem to be more at peace with himself and the rest of the world by the end of the episode, part of me did wish there was a way for the two characters to stay reunited, though I realize that would mean Reid probably needed to stay in a comatose state the entire time.

Why Didn’t Shemar Moore Or Thomas Gibson Return?

Having those Season 1 flashbacks in the finale definitely helped Criminal Minds reach something resembling a full-circle resolution. That said, fans no doubt wondered why the producers didn’t lure back other long-absent regulars such as Shemar Moore and Thomas Gibson (even if the latter’s firing in Season 12 might have made his return slightly awkward).

As it happens, Erica Messer said bringing those actors back was a goal that she and the producers had, but due to outside circumstances, it never came together. In her words:

Considering Mandy Patinkin exited the show in its early seasons over creative differences concerning violent content, so I don’t know that anyone expected him to return in the flesh. But Thomas Gibson seemed like a distinct possibility, considering how much fans have asked for his return to happen.

Shemar Moore, meanwhile, seemed like a guarantee, considering he left the show amicably with his character Derek Morgan still alive, and he'd also reappeared a couple of times after leaving. However, Moore is busy elsewhere at CBS with S.W.A.T., so it’s very possible that his schedule wasn’t free enough to allow for a final cameo.

Imagine if had Derek shown up in the finale by walking into the BAU just as his Baby Girl agreed to meet up with Alvez for a mini-date. Yikes, amirite?

After 322 episodes, Criminal Minds is finished, without any more new episodes on the way. There will be plenty of repeats, though, and fans can now start hoping for a spinoff to go into development at CBS at some point in the future.

Mega-spoilers below for Criminal Minds' final episode ever. Be warned!!

For years, Criminal Minds fans have been big proponents for certain characters hooking up – JJ and Reid shippers, you know what I mean – with Shemar Moore's exit a few years back basically destroying all hopes for Derek Morgan and Kirsten Vangsness' Penelope Garcia to get together. (I guess Derek's marriage did that, too, though not for everyone.) In any case, Garcia hasn't had the same kind of chemistry with anyone since, but the series finale let the sparks officially start flying between her and Adam Rodriguez's Luke Alvez.

Criminal Minds dropped some somewhat sad news on fans (and characters) with the reveal that Garcia would be leaving the BAU in order to put her computer skills to work for a non-profit organization that almost definitely won't involve as many corpses. During her super-festive farewell party, Alvez showed how thirsty he was (literally and figuratively) by asking her out on a date in the midst of getting refreshments. She agreed, which no doubt sent viewers into light tizzies.

Showrunner Erica Messer spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the series finale and explained the decision behind bringing two main characters together at last.

Previously, Garcia had a habit of answering Alvez's questions as if he was her worst enemy who also happened to be a telemarketer. Really, though, it was much more akin to the way schoolchildren are often mean to those they are attracted to, which allowed room for fans to speculate about Garcia and Alvez getting together. Almost dying a few episodes back certainly could have inspired Alvez to take more chances in his personal life.

I can't imagine anyone saw Garcia and Alvez getting together under these exact circumstances, but it's basically the only way it could have happened outside of fan-fiction. Here, Erica Messer talks about the rule the writers had about not allowing BAU agents to co-mingle romantically:

Workplace romances on TV very rarely go smoothly for both parties and their organization, and it's probably best that Criminal Minds didn't make its characters go through the wringer with in-office break-ups and other relationship-centric events that could cause extra stress for those in the field. Also, I dare not think about what might have happened if JJ started dating Reid years ago, considering what happens to people he gets close to.

How did you guys feel about Alvez and Garcia setting up a date outside the workplace? Let us know below, and even though Criminal Minds has now concluded, there are lots of other shows heading to CBS and beyond, so keep track of them all in our Winter and Spring premiere schedule.

Last year, Criminal Minds fans learned the sad news that the series would be ending on CBS. The slight silver lining was that the crime procedural would be granted a fifteenth and final season comprised of ten episodes. What you may not know is that Criminal Minds’ last two seasons ended up getting filmed back-to-back.

Criminal Minds’ final season only started airing back in January 2020 after getting left off CBS’ fall schedule. However, Season 15 finished filming quite a while ago, back in summer 2019. In fact, last May, star Joe Mantegna shared a poignant message commemorating his final day of filming on the crime drama. Now the show is about to end on CBS.

Criminal Minds’ showrunner Erica Messer talked to CinemaBlend’s Nick Venable ahead of the series finale. He pointed out that, given the gap between post-production and the airing of the final episodes, the Criminal Minds cast and crew have had a bit more time to process saying goodbye. Despite the distance, though, Messer revealed that the show ending “still stings” saying:

Criminal Minds has been on the air since 2005. During that time, it has said goodbye to major cast members and welcomed new ones. Fifteen seasons is a long time, and as Criminal Minds’ showrunner points out, it has led to a lot of developments on and off-screen for the cast and crew. So, the emotion surrounding the show ending remains quite palpable.

Erica Messer explained that there were a lot of moments during the filming of Criminal Minds’ final season that brought the reality of the finality home. As you can imagine, given a show of such sprawling length, the list of “lasts” was long and emotional to cross. Of reaching each milestone, Messer said:

It still has to be a lot to sift through. Criminal Minds has been going on for a decade-and-a-half. That is a long time for people to collaborate on a show, and the emotional investment for the cast, crew and fans has to be quite staggering after fifteen seasons. Thankfully, some cast members have found their next roles, so fans can check them out there.

In some bittersweet news, Criminal Minds ratings went up during its final season. Regardless of that feat, though, the goodbye is coming. The series will bid farewell with a series finale that has previously been teased as “explosive and transformative.” Criminal Minds fans will definitely want to tune in to see what that entails!

Past seasons of Criminal Minds are streaming on Netflix, along with lots of new 2020 content. The series finale of Criminal Minds airs this Wednesday (February 19), at 9 p.m. ET on CBS. After it airs, you can look forward to this winter and spring’s premieres.

When Criminal Minds kicks off its 15th and final season, it will have been over eleven months since the events of the Season 14 finale, which set up complications for Reid and J.J. and also brought up possible retirement plans for Rossi. Showrunner Erica Messer assures that answers are coming in the final ten episodes, but she also sounds like she's setting fans up to not expect any universe-altering changes by the time the finale is complete. Does that mean no big characters deaths or anything of that nature?

Fans should judge for themselves, really, in deciding what showrunner Erica Messer is hinting at with her latest Criminal Minds teases. Saying the goal was not to give the CBS crime drama a definitive ending, Messer said this:

While Erica Messer's explanation to TV Insider does obviously leave room for a potential show-rocking death to occur, it sounds a lot more like she and the rest of the show's creative teamed aimed to stick as close as possible to Criminal Minds' status quo. It's not so much because there aren't any exciting or original ideas to move forward on with characters like Paget Brewster's Emily Prentiss or Aisha Tyler's Tara Lewis, but rather because Messer wants to respect the fanbase that has been with the show and its characters for 15 years.

Which isn't to say that there aren't respectful ways in which Criminal Minds could kill off Joe Mantegna's Rossi and/or Matthew Gray Gubler's Reid, but this isn't Breaking Bad or another closed-ended crime drama concluding one overall narrative cycle. As a CBS series that has already spawned two spinoffs – as short-lived as they may have been – Criminal Minds is a series meant to keep its world revolving well beyond the finale's last scene, which would be harder to do by killing off the important leads.

Granted, Criminal Minds is apparently going all out with its final-season villain, Michael Mosley's identity-shifting monster dubbed The Chameleon, who was first introduced in Season 14. The deadly big bad will apparently give Rossi the biggest challenge of his career, which certainly doesn't come equipped with the best implications. But it's not like Erica Messer is going to let Chameleon win, right?

All that said, it's slightly more possible that Criminal Minds would give one or more characters a positive-minded sendoff, such as Rossi retiring with honors, or if J.J. decided to move away from Reid and the rest of the BAU to work on her relationship with her husband, while presumably still catching criminals. (Assuming she makes it out of that premiere episode okay.) However it goes, Erica Messer is optimistic that the final act will be appreciated. In her words:

With new cast member Rachel Leigh Cook joining the fray as a potential love interest for Reid in the midst of his J.J. drama, Criminal Minds is set to debut its final season on Wednesday, January 8, at 9:00 p.m. CT. Be sure to watch, and to keep track of all the other big premieres on the way by bookmarking our Winter and Spring TV schedule.

Criminal Minds wrapped Season 14 on a bombshell reveal from JJ that she's loved Reid for years, and it was a doozy of a character cliffhanger heading into the fifteenth and final season of the series. Since Criminal Minds was bumped from its usual fall premiere slot and held until midseason for the debut of its shortened last season, fans have been waiting the better part of a year since the February 2019 finale to find out what happens next for the longtime friends, coworkers, and potential love interests.

Well, the long-awaited first look at Criminal Minds Season 15 premiere has finally hit the web, and it reveals that JJ and Reid will be touchy in the big episode. Take a look!

That's not exactly a passionate embrace, but they certainly seem to have a pretty good grip on each other. Is this because they're finally having a conversation that was months in the making, to address JJ's bombshell reveal in explicit terms? Or are they still dancing around each other? Or did JJ just take a bad step on a slope and Reid grabbed her to steady her? Or will it be some combination of twists?

Fans will likely have to wait until the January 8 premiere to find out exactly what leads up to this touchy moment between JJ and Reid, but it at least indicates that Criminal Minds isn't going to just drop the JJ/Reid plot. Given that Criminal Minds is very much a procedural, it was possible that JJ's feelings for Reid and his feelings about those feelings wouldn't be addressed in-depth; all signs point toward Criminal Minds more or less picking up where it left off with JJ and Reid.

It is worth noting that JJ is still wearing her wedding ring, and she went years without her feelings for Reid getting in the way of her life as a wife and mom, so it might take Reid wanting to explore a relationship for JJ to be willing to upend her life. Considering Reid is reportedly going to have a love interest in at least a couple episodes of Season 15, fans probably don't want to count on a JJ/Reid happily-ever-after too early, if at all.

Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer weighed in on what's in store for JJ and Reid, including JJ's story with her husband, in a chat with TVLine:

Really, nobody is in a great position now that the truth is out, although Reid arguably has the fewest strings attached. JJ seemingly never intended to share her feelings, so life would undoubtedly be easier for her if she hadn't been forced to drop her big secret on Reid. Poor Will presumably doesn't know his wife has carried a torch for her coworker for years, so if JJ does decide to do something about it and try to move forward with Reid, Will could be in for a shock.

Criminal Minds: Why Each Of The Major Cast Members Left

See what happens next for JJ and Reid when Criminal Minds returns for its ten-episode final season with a special two-hour premiere on Wednesday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET in the winter TV premiere schedule.

One of the stars of Criminal Minds is revealing how the Chameleon will affect the series’ final season. Fans will recall that the crime drama introduced Season 15’s big bad in the previous season's finale. Everett Lynch, aka the Chameleon, is the villain the BAU and Rossi will have to square off against in the final season.

For a big bad refresher, the Chameleon’s MO involves traveling to various towns and gaining the trust of young women. After doing so, he proposes to them and then proceeds to cut off their faces. Grisly! Rossi explained all of this to his then-fiancé, and now-wife, Krystal. The Chameleon seemed to have Joe Mantegna’s stalwart protagonist nervous.

Being on the hunt for a maniac should leave anyone in hot pursuit unsettled. Criminal Minds’ showrunner, Erica Messer, indicated that the dynamic between the Chameleon and Rossi would find the former being Rossi’s version of the Joker. Does that make Rossi Batman or Commissioner Gordon? I do not know. What I do know is that is not where the teases about the Chameleon end.

Last season, Criminal Minds set up the character’s run, which will span roughly half of Season 15, with "four or five" episodes. That is what Ozark’s Michael Mosley (he played Pastor Mason) shared when teasing his time on the veteran drama’s final season to TVLine. He also revealed that the Chameleon will test Rossi and the team’s patience. Due to the Chameleon changing up his appearance, Mosley had to don various disguises and "run around like a maniac," but noted that being with the show in the end "was an honor."

If anything, it sounds like an eventful cat-and-mouse game between criminal and cop is about to play out. As Erica Messer previously teased, the series’ final ten episodes will pick up six months after the previous season's finale. She also shared that the chase for the Chameleon is on!

So, expect the hunt for him to comprise a great deal of Criminal Minds’ focus. He is their last big bad. A serial killer whose attempted capture will figure into several episodes of Season 15. Rossi is preparing to face a formidable foe, so I would expect some fireworks. As for the series finale itself, it has been teased in incredibly explosive terms.

The final season will not only be about the Chameleon, though. Criminal Minds will welcome back a super special guest star. Also, expect some more stuff between JJ and Reid in the drama’s final bow. But, the ripples from last season’s finale bombshell may not play out with them getting together.

Fans have a bit longer to wait to see how it all works out. The series is coming back later than usual. Criminal Minds will return for its fifteenth and final season after this fall’s premieres, during the 2020 midseason on CBS. You can catch up on past seasons of the crime drama via Netflix, along with newly arriving content.

Some spoilers for Season 14 and the Season 14 finale can be found in this article!

There are some shows that plow through four or five seasons and call it quits and there are other shows that have enough story material and likable characters that they can continue running for over a decade. CBS’ Criminal Minds has definitely been the latter. As Season 14 is wrapping up and leading into a 15th and final season for the long-running drama, we’ve learned a little bit what where the final ten episodes will pick up. Per showrunner Erica Messer there will be a time jump:

The key to the final ten episodes will be Agent Rossi and his obsession with catching the Chameleon, a character who appeared earlier during Season 14 and has been referred to as the "Joker" to Rossi's "Batman who was able to escape by pinning Rossi to the ground. Rossi was wounded during the encounter, and we've know for a bit he would get his chance to finally catch the guy during Criminal Minds’ final season. Now, it's nice to know more details regarding how the show will go about reintroducing the villain.

Erica Messer also told TV.com that the Chameleon was chosen because he was the perfect type of baddie to pick up with in the final season, also mentioning the actor the show hired in the role, Mike Moseley, really crushed it out in the role.

Of course, catching a really difficult adversary is never an easy task and since Season 15 is going to be the last season, Erica Messer says the writers are not going to make it easy on all of the various cast members who are still involved with the show. She also said:

It ends up bringing a little bit of frustration to some of the other team members thinking, ‘We're spending a lot of time maybe chasing the wrong case. This might not be related to the Chameleon.’... It tests the boundaries of our crime fighting just a little bit. And the camaraderie that we usually see gets a little testy, I would say. But, ultimately, we're all on the same team and we're the good fighting evil, and that wins all the time. So even if we don't catch them when we wanna catch them, we're gonna not stop until we do.

Meanwhile, the big bombshell – and spoilers - we just witnessed on Criminal Minds had nothing to do with Rossi and everything to do with a secret love J.J. has apparently been harboring for Reid for years on the series. We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out, as J.J. has always been happily married on the show and we also learned that her husband Will will be back during Season 15. So that situation is bound to get complicated.

Luckily, Criminal Minds is not going to end before all of these various stories have wrapped up. While it doesn’t look as if the writers have every single beat written yet, as Messer revealed above that they haven’t gotten to the end of the series yet, the CBS drama is currently working on figuring it out. (We previously heard Season 14 and Season 15 would be shot back-to-back.)

Back in January, CBS made the early decision to go ahead and greenlight the long-running series for one more season. Given that this season had a shorter episode count then normal this fall, coming in at only 15 episodes, it actually makes sense the network renewed the series when it did.

I think a lot of us believed the shortened episode count for Season 14 meant the series would be wrapping up for good this year. Honestly, Rossi’s wedding would have been a fine note to end on and it’s easy to see why that got written in. However, by renewing the veteran series early, Criminal Minds was able to leave enough threads open in its story to make room for more plots next year. Erica Messer previously revealed that CBS gave Criminal Minds "incredible respect" when it came to cancelling the drama.

Not all shows get that sort of notice, of course. Plenty of series get cancelled without warning. However, Criminal Minds is a little bit of a different case. It’s been on the air for many years. It has an avid fanbase. It still does decently in the ratings, although it's 18-49 demographic numbers were starting to look a little lackluster (and I'm sure the show is expensive to produce having been on the air so long). Plus, there are also plenty of viewers who may have given up on the show at some point who will still want to tune in to see how the finale ultimately plays out. We saw the same thing happen on CBS when CSI ended just a few years ago. The show bumped up over 12 million total viewers (way up from its final season) when the 2-hour finale movie aired, bringing back fan-favorites.

So, it’s easy to see why the Eye Network ultimately opted to give the show one more go ‘round. Unfortunately, we’re going to have a while to wait for those episodes. Season 14 just wrapped, whereas most other network shows won’t finish up their seasons until the late spring. Stay tuned, as we’ll let you know as soon as Criminal Minds Season 15 gets a premiere date. And, of course, keep an eye on what’s coming to TV in the meantime.

Spoilers ahead for the Season 14 finale of Criminal Minds**, called "Truth or Dare."**

Criminal Minds is known for ending its seasons on crazy cliffhangers that can have deadly consequences, and that has been especially frustrating in the past when the show had not yet been renewed. Well, Season 14 ended on a cliffhanger of a sort that won't result in any deaths, and there's no concern of the show ending before Season 15. In the penultimate season finale, JJ dropped a shocking confession on Reid, and we'll have to wait until Season 15 to see for ourselves how it plays out.

JJ and Reid spent a big chunk of the finale in grave danger, and JJ wound up in a situation in which she had to confess a deep, dark secret to save her own life. In a twist that few viewers could have seen coming, JJ told Reid that she's always loved him but was "too scared to say it before." Yes, the agent who seemingly has been happily married and the mom of two kids has apparently been harboring a secret love for Reid!

Reid and JJ got a private moment later at Rossi's wedding, and he asked if she meant what she said. She claimed that it was an act to trick the UnSub, but there's clearly more going on, and possibly not just on her side. Reid certainly had a look on his face that we don't regularly see from him! Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer has teased how the bombshell confession will impact Season 15, saying this:

Well, in case you were concerned that hiatus would mean JJ and Reid's conversation about the bombshell would take place off-screen, Erica Messer's comments to ET indicate that the two agents spent the six months between the end of Season 14 and the beginning of Season 15 not talking about it. That's not altogether surprising given these two characters and how their dynamic might have to change after all these years once they have the conversation.

The stakes are actually quite high for these two, as their friendship goes way back in the show. Along with Garcia, JJ and Reid are the only major characters still on Criminal Minds that have been around from the very beginning. Their relationship goes way back, and any changes that happen because of their conversation could impact the entire team and the whole show. What will happen? Can anything happen? Do they want anything to happen?

Well, the sticky wicket in this situation is of course JJ's life with her husband and kids. Part of why her confession in "Truth or Dare" was so shocking is that viewers had no reason to think she was unhappy with Will or her kids, or that she yearned for somebody else, let alone Reid! Erica Messer went on to discuss what JJ's confession means for her character moving forward:

"It's complicated" is putting it mildly, if you ask me! No wonder Erica Messer is glad CBS cancelled Criminal Minds the way it did. Judging by how Criminal Minds ended its penultimate season, the final batch of episodes will tackle character development rather than focus on the cases each week. The final season's big bad has already been introduced, and the ten episodes that remain will have to tackle all the complications that come from him on top of the characters' arcs.

That said, Erica Messer admits that the full final season isn't totally planned yet, so there's still room for twists and turns:

Wrapping up a series that will have been on the air for a decade and a half by the time the final credits roll is no small task, and Erica Messer undoubtedly has a lot of decisions to make, and ten episodes isn't that many when there's so much to be done!

Will the characters get happily-ever-afters? Will Hotch get one last appearance? Will JJ stay with Will, or will she and Reid give romance a shot? Will the BAU take down one final big bad? Will the ratings get a boost for the swan song? Can fans possibly all be satisfied with one final ending? At least we know for sure that one unforgettable guest star will be back.

Only time will tell what else is in store. CBS has not yet announced a premiere date for the fifteenth and final season, which is hardly a surprise. If you want to rewatch the first 13 seasons and see if you missed any clues about JJ's feelings for Reid, you can find them streaming on Netflix. For some shows you can watch now that Criminal Minds is done for a time, take a gander at our midseason TV premiere schedule.

The end of an era is on the way since the cancellation of Criminal Minds, which will have run for 15 seasons by the time the final credits roll. News of the cancellation broke while Season 14 was still airing, and it came with the renewal for one final batch of episodes to wrap things up. Not all shows are lucky enough to get a bonus season while also being cancelled, and showrunner Erica Messer shared why it’s a good thing Criminal Minds got the axe the way it did:

Erica Messer learned that the end was nigh for Criminal Minds before production wrapped on Season 14, and her comments to ET revealed that getting the news when she did enabled her to craft an ending to the season that didn’t also have to wrap up the entire series. The 10-episode fifteenth season can bring the show to what will hopefully be a satisfying end; the Season 14 finale can focus on Rossi’s wedding as well as the danger Reid and JJ found themselves in.

The hopes for Criminal Minds to hit another milestone after making it to 300 episodes in Season 14 were unfortunately dashed by the cancellation. Erica Messer revealed in the fall that she didn’t have an endgame in mind yet; that has apparently changed. The ratings for Criminal Minds have been disappointing, and signs weren’t exactly pointing toward a long future when CBS didn’t order more episodes than the original reduced count.

Between the disappointing ratings and the fact that ABC is actually the lead studio for Criminal Minds, CBS’ decision to end the show didn’t come as a huge surprise. The news of the fifteenth season -- even if it’s much shorter than earlier seasons with only 10 episodes -- had to come as a relief to viewers, who would have learned of the end shortly before the Season 14 finale.

At this point, we can just cross our fingers that Erica Messer and Co. deliver a satisfying final season. We already know a bit about the villain, as well as one unforgettable guest star who will be back. For the final Criminal Minds episode of the 2018-2019 TV season, tune in to CBS on Wednesday, February 6 at 10 p.m. ET. For some viewing options once Criminal Minds heads into its final big hiatus, check out our midseason TV premiere schedule.

Only one season is left of Criminal Minds, and after 14 years, there are a lot of loose ends that will undoubtedly need to be tied off before the credits roll for the last time. Well, Season 14 hasn’t even ended yet, but one unforgettable guest star has already revealed that she’ll be back at least one more time in the fifteenth and final season. Jane Lynch will be back as Reid’s mom, Diana, and she shared the news herself via social media. Take a look:

Unfortunately, Jane Lynch didn’t reveal anything about what she’ll be doing during Criminal Minds Season 15 in her tweet, but we can bet that any episode she appears in will be an emotional ride for Reid. His mother’s health has deteriorated over the years of the show, and her dementia diagnosis had her realizing that she would likely forget her son. Lynch last appeared in the Season 12 finale, when she was held hostage by Reid’s nemesis.

We’ll probably have to wait until closer to Season 15’s premiere to learn what brings Diana back to the show, but showrunner Erica Messer stated to TVLine that her return is “related to a revelation” from the Season 14 finale, and the wait until that episode isn’t much longer. It hits the airwaves on Wednesday, February 6 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Given that Season 15 will be the end of the show, we may want to brace ourselves for a tragedy. That said, the news that Diana will be back because of “a revelation” in the fourteenth season finale may indicate that she’s not going to die of natural causes, if she dies at all. If the revelation has something to do with a case, her health may not be her biggest problem. If the revelation is that she is dying, then… well, at least we’ll have hiatus to prepare for what would undoubtedly be a tragic twist.

Erica Messer went on to say this about the “unpredictable” Diana in Season 15:

No matter how happy or sad her return will be, Criminal Minds viewers can at the very least look forward to seeing Jane Lynch as Diana one more time, and her return provides something to speculate about over the hiatus. Now, what about Hotch? Could he be back, or will Thomas Gibson’s controversial exit mean that Hotch remains off-screen for the rest of the series?

The fifteen and final season will run for ten episodes. The cancellation of Criminal Minds didn’t come as a huge surprise to fans who keep tuned in to news about the show. The ratings haven’t been nearly as impressive as they once were, and the end seemed nigh for a while before the official cancellation news finally broke.

Tune in to CBS on February 6 at 10 p.m. ET for the Season 14 finale of Criminal Minds. If you need some shows to watch once Criminal Minds is done for the season, swing by our midseason TV premiere schedule.

Criminal Minds is officially ending, and fans have some questions. Here's one big one: Will fired actor Thomas Gibson's Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner return for the Criminal Minds finale? That is the question showrunner Erica Messer was asked, and this is how she answered:

That's what Erica Messer told TVLine regarding a potential return for Thomas Gibson's Hotch. While it was not a "no," it was not necessarily a "yes" either. For fans hoping Criminal Minds brings back the character for one more go, it is a glimmer of hope. As it was certainly not ruled out.

CBS recently announced that Criminal Minds would be coming to an end. The veteran crime drama is set to wrap up with one more season. All of which has led some to wonder if Thomas Gibson's former BAU unit chief Hotch will return for the finale.

It is not the first time the subject of Thomas Gibson returning to the series has been broached. Back in 2017, Criminal Minds' showrunner fielded the inquiry. Her response did not indicate a definitive answer either way. Fast forward to 2019, and the sentiment seems largely unchanged. The only major change is that now we know when the series is ending.

Thomas Gibson was let go from Criminal Minds back in 2016 following an altercation with one of the show's writers. Accordingly, the character was written off with a pretty happy ending in store. So, there are no loose plot threads to notably tie-up.

Any time a series comes to an end, questions tend to abound regarding which stars will come back and which will not. Especially when the actor/character was a long-running presence on the series. Accordingly, Criminal Minds is confronting the same situation.

In years past, the question of Thomas Gibson's potential return had not had a ticking clock placed on it. Now that Criminal Minds is officially coming to an end, there is one in play.

Criminal Minds will film its fifteenth and final season this spring, immediately after Season 14 wraps production. That leaves little time left to make to a decision regarding Thomas Gibson making a comeback. The CBS drama will draw to an end with ten episodes.

Along with balancing what could be some potential returns, Criminal Minds will have to close out its current characters' stories. Season 14 has yet to air its finale, which should set up the final season's activities. Criminal Minds' showrunner Erica Messer has already teased how the show will set up a slightly different final season.

One of the things Criminal Minds fans can look forward to is Rossi's upcoming nuptials. All told, there is a lot in store for the crime drama's upcoming episodes. Whether Thomas Gibson's Hotch makes a return before the series signs off, only time will tell for sure.

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. The crime drama is one of many shows airing new episodes during the midseason.

This week brought the disappointing, if not altogether unexpected, news that CBS is calling it quits with the long-running crime drama Criminal Minds, which has featured some of TV's most disturbed killers. In setting up its truncated Season 15, Criminal Minds will deliver a most formidable villain for the BAU team to go up against, and showrunner Erica Messer has shared more details about what fans can expect to see as Season 14 comes to a close by setting up the final season.

A Happy Season 14 Finale?

Before viewers can put their peepers on the evil-tainted Season 15, Criminal Minds still needs to cap off its current run of episodes, and Erica Messer makes it sound like things won't be altogether horrible for the entire team. Claiming that the finale will be a must-see episode for various reasons, Messer said this to TVLine:

Criminal Minds isn't going to ruin Rossi's wedding by having an unsub crash it and kill someone, right? That would be one of the worst ways to set up the final season, at least for everyone who wants to see Rossi and Krystall tie the knot peacefully. Of course, if this wedding scenario does go off without a hitch, then that probably means disaster will strike everyone and everything outside of the ceremony.

A Time Jump

Criminal Minds' Season 14 finale apparently won't wrap up with Rossi's wedding, and it will also avoid closing things out on a major cliffhanger in which fans are forced to worry about the fate of beloved characters. Rather than lots of physical mayhem, Erica Messer implies the episode will be more conversational on that front.

Unfortunately, the showrunner doesn't get very specific about the parameters of the finale's time jump, so we can't tell how drastic it might be. It's possible the show will only skip ahead the few months that account for the show's between-seasons hiatus. Alternately, Criminal Minds could take a more shocking leap by moving the narrative years into the future, should the storyline call for it.

One Last Major Big Bad

Erica Messer confirmed that Criminal Minds will once again dip its toes into more serialized storytelling with the rest of its upcoming episodes. (A "little more" is how she put it.) Marking perhaps the most notable element of the serialized style is the yet-to-be-revealed villain that'll serve as the final overarching big bad. Messer even uses a very interesting comic book comparison when talking about the killer.

Rossi, Prentiss and the rest of the BAU agents have dealt with seemingly bazillions of disturbed individuals over the years, sometimes running into the same freaky bastards years later. So it always takes the worst of the worst to make it through multiple episodes without being brought to justice. But even if this new foe has the advantage when it comes to age, speed and strength, it'll likely be Rossi's brains that likely help the Criminal Minds squad come out on top.

Erica Messer also teased that Season 15 will delve into some of the characters' personal stories, and in ways that will likely surprise fans. Considering these are the final episodes, viewers might very well get to see big advancements in these characters' lives. Maybe more marriages? Pregnancies? Deaths?

Criminal Minds will continue down its Season 14 path every Wednesday night on CBS at 10:00 p.m. ET. Using our 2019 midseason premiere schedule, keep track of all the new and returning shows hitting the small screen soon.

Criminal Minds is currently in its fourteenth season and just celebrated its 300th episode with the season premiere. It is an impressive run by any standard. With another long-running CBS series calling it quits, it stands to reason that fans may be concerned CBS' hit crime procedural could join them. Responding to whether she has an endgame in mind for it, Criminal Minds' showrunner Erica Messer revealed how long she thinks the drama can keep going. Messer said:

Based on what Erica Messer told TV Insider, the showrunner seems confident that even if Criminal Minds were to come to an end, the series would live on in some capacity. One way of doing that would be through another spinoff. As Messer hints, people will never tire of stories that involve the good guys taking down the bad ones. Her optimism about the show's future coincides with something she previously shared in response to running out of bad guys.

While there has been a lot of talk surrounding Criminal Minds making it to its 300th episode, the series' outlook has been met with a slight cloud overhead. The issue? Fans had to sweat out whether the series would be renewed for a fourteenth season and when it was, it was with a reduced episode count. The current season will run for 15 episodes, seven down from the show's usual run of 22 episodes.

There were rumblings that the show's episode count would be increased, although it currently remains the same. Despite the outside tension surrounding the show's future, Criminal Minds has made it for another season. For her part, the series' showrunner seems confident about the drama's prospects, and her statement makes it clear that even if it ends, it can eventually be revisited. Whether fans are watching Criminal Minds' final episodes, only time will tell.

Albeit, crew members have reportedly said Season 14 would be the series' last. The fact the series' showrunner is so optimistic about the franchise's outlook should be comforting to fans. The pieces are arguably in place for the series to wrap up if that is what ends up happening.

Rossi will be embarking on a romance with his ex-wife. We know that Garcia will eventually come through the dark period she is in, following the unsettling events of the Season 14 premiere. Plus, there will be a deeper dive into the characters' personal lives throughout the season, so there will be no shortage of things to continue looking forward to.

Every show eventually comes to an end, so there is no reason not to relish the here and now. The fourteenth season of Criminal Minds will continue airing Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. The crime drama is among a myriad of new programming arriving on CBS, alongside other network series coming this fall.

Garcia faced a different challenge in the 300th episode of Criminal Minds, and it is going to leave a mark. Having been kidnapped by a cult of serial killers and forced to do something unfortunate to help in the larger scheme of things, Garcia will have a lot of dark feelings to sift through in Season 14. So, how long will Garcia's darker side, show? Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer shed some light on that and why it will not last too long, saying:

With Garcia's upbeat nature having been impacted by the events of the Season 14 premiere, what may be a short time, relatively speaking, might feel longer. Criminal Minds' showrunner revealing to TV Insider that Garcia's mood will be overcast for around four episodes does not sound that lengthy. However, the show's fourteenth season is currently slated to run for fifteen episodes, meaning that this is almost a third of the season. So, Garcia's return to her upbeat nature will not be a blink-and-you-missed-it event.

That said, the crime drama will not be lingering on it for a great deal of time for the reasons the showrunner mentioned. So, there is light at the end of the tunnel as fans settle in for Criminal Minds to contribute a significant block of the season to explore this side of the usually upbeat character.

As showrunner Erica Messer points out, Garcia is the show's source of sunshine, and when the sun is eclipsed, it tends to get noticed. Garcia will not be alone in facing darker times ahead. Messer also teased that Season 14 will find Reid pausing to reflect after being tortured in the premiere.

Maybe he and Garcia can help each other? With her facing a challenging time in her life, fans should prepare for an arc that will take them through some ups and downs. It is sad but realistic for her not rebound from a trauma overnight, or in the span of a single episode. While Criminal Minds' showrunner revealed how long Garcia's dark side would last, she did not reveal the mechanism that will eventually help Garcia overcome the darkness so that she can shine again.

While time heals, fans will have to tune in to see if anything else plays a role in helping her. Given how Garcia's personality helps stave off the show's own dark side, that development will be a significant game changer for the crime drama. Stepping in to provide some light in the meantime, will be Rossi's reignited romance with his ex-wife, and he is not the only one whose personal life will be explored in the current season.

In that vein, there will be lots to look forward to as the latest installment in the crime procedural moves forward. The fourteenth season of Criminal Minds continues Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. The crime procedural is joined by a ton of new programming arriving on CBS, along with other series coming this fall.

Criminal Minds is heading towards a tremendous milestone: its 300th episode. As viewers will see when Season 14 premieres, the show will be taking that number into account when it comes to the UnSub the team will be profiling in the episode. When asked about the potential of running out of criminals for the series to explore, Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer responded by revealing the 300th episode will feature one of the series' most active killers yet. Messer said:

Yes, you read that correctly. The murderer featured in the 300th episode will have killed as many people as there have been episodes of Criminal Minds. That is a lot of deranged "criminal minds" to have explored. With the series moving forward beyond Episode 300, it may lead one to wonder if the show could be facing a supply shortage when it comes to criminals. Well, Criminal Minds showrunner, Erica Messer has assured TVLine there is no scarcity when it comes to discovering real-life atrocities.

Just in case you thought that television might be blowing things out of proportion, the 300th episode's killer proves otherwise. As her quote indicates, the serial murderer featured in the season premiere of Criminal Minds is based on a real-life figure, who is believed to have murdered more than 300 people.

That may mean there will not be much dramatic license at play when it comes to their kill rate. Erica Messer expressed how she was skeptical about a murderer having taken 300 lives before learning more. She continued, saying:

You read that last bit correctly. The whereabouts of the murderer known as the Monster of the Andes are currently unconfirmed. While Criminal Minds is basing its character on this real-life serial murderer, the episode is unlikely to end without the fictionalized version's reign of terror having been brought to an end.

The 300th episode's killer was not the only disturbing thing Erica Messer talked about in her interview. When asked about the number of serial killers currently active in the United States, Messer shared that, statistically speaking, contacts within the FBI have said there are at least 50 open cases at a time. That is an unsettling number, to say the least.

It is an indicator that Criminal Minds can only scrape the surface of unsettling case files to base its killers on. For viewers of Criminal Minds and other crime procedurals, the idea of actually catching a killer and ending the potential for future victims is undoubtedly a silver lining watching the show holds. Despite the disturbing nature of the events that surround them, Criminal Minds' showrunner has promised a reprieve via some romance.

Find out how the team tracks down the latest killer when the 300th episode and fourteenth season premiere of Criminal Minds premieres Wednesday, October 3 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. The crime procedural will be joined by a ton of new programming set to arrive on CBS, along with other series coming this fall.

We already knew that Criminal Minds was planning to get more personal in Season 14 and thanks to showrunner Erica Messer, we now know how much more personal. Because when you think of a character's personal life, you often think of romance. So, it is only natural that curiosity would fall on whether there would be love in the air for Criminal Minds' ensemble. Well, Erica Messer has shared some insight on their romantic prospects saying:

Rossi and romance? Sounds like a robust match! Erica Messer's red-hot romantic tease to TVLine does present fans with a bit to unpack. First and foremost, it seems as though it will be a slow burn between Gail O'Grady's Krystall Richards and Rossi. Whether that flame leads to another trip down the aisle for the former spouses will be intriguing to learn. Fans will not have to wait long to see Rossi resume his romance with his former wife.

Criminal Minds will be re-introducing Krystall in the second episode of the series' currently slated fifteen episode run for Season 14. There is something about reunion romances that always brings a certain sweetness with it. With Rossi's romantic life getting a bit of the spotlight, fans may be wondering if any other of the show's other characters will also get to feel the love. Well, it sounds as though there is good news on that front too.

Criminal Minds' showrunner also revealed that Rossi would not be the only character to experience an enlivened love life in Season 14. Erica Messer also teased that Paget Brewster's Prentiss will meet someone during a harrowing upcoming episode. That said, she did not give away whether that meeting will lead to anything long-term for Prentiss. It is a positive move in that direction though! Love has to start somewhere and what better time than Season 14?

Maybe, if the heat is as memorable as it was between Krystall and Rossi in Season 13, Prentiss' potential love interest could end up sticking around. Regardless, Erica Messer's teases hint at a huge season ahead for fans of the crime drama. The show will not be holding back when it kicks off its fourteenth installment with its 300th episode. Among the things planned is bringing back one of its most notorious villains. Fans will have to tune in to Season 14 to find out how it will all play out.

They do not have much longer to wait! The 300th episode and fourteenth season premiere of Criminal Minds will premiere Wednesday, October 3 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. The crime procedural is among a highly anticipated slate of new programming set to arrive on CBS, along with other series coming this fall.

Though Criminal Minds spent many seasons wrapping up its finales with a tight and neat bow, showrunner Erica Messer has flipped the script in recent years, capping things off in danger-filled cliffhangers. When Season 13 ended, Kirsten Vangsness' Garcia was being kidnapped just as Reid was forced to agree to help the Messiah. Messer has revealed that when Season 14 kicks off, audiences will get to see how this traumatizing incident has affected Garcia's personality, which is just one way the new episodes will start exploring these characters' personal lives a bit more. In her words:

Not to say that Criminal Minds characters all go through soft resets between every episode, especially in the past couple of years, but it's definitely true that the show doesn't allow for personal problems and issues to fester in ways that they do in real life. Many of the things that Garcia and the team have done would weigh extremely heavily on someone, but because this is a network drama with an established storytelling format, the characters rarely get to express that more vulnerable side of themselves. But we'll be getting to see Garcia lean more into her post-trauma depression and other emotions, and I'm very interested to see exactly how she saves herself from such a dire situation. Earlier this year, Kirsten Vangsness told me how much she enjoyed Season 13 as a whole, so she is presumably enjoying a chance to show more layers of her character's personality.

Garcia isn't the only character we'll see new shades from, either. Erica Messer also told TVLine that Criminal Minds will dig a little deeper into the relatively unexplored backstory for Adam Rodriguez's Alvez, among other things.

That should be a treat for fans who have been enjoying many of these characters for a decade or more. Obviously the more exciting elements of Criminal Minds involve the sadistic unsubs and the complicated hoops the BAU team has to jump through in order to let justice prevail -- and don't you think that the show will suddenly scale back the devious insanity of its criminals, as Season 14 will feature the drama's most prolific serial killer yet. (Not to mention celebrating its 300th episode in history-honoring ways.) But in the meantime, it's nice to know we'll be learning new details about such well-established characters.

Criminal Minds Season 14 is set to debut on CBS on Wednesday, October 3, at 10:00 p.m. ET. To see what other new and returning shows will be popping up soon, head to our fall TV premiere schedule.

Criminal Minds closed its thirteenth season with a cliffhanger that left two characters' fates in question. The episode ended with Reid and Garcia held at gunpoint by members of a serial killer cult. As if that wasn't bad enough for fans dying to know what would happen next, the show hadn't even been renewed just yet. Well, Criminal Minds did finally score a renewal order, and fans could look forward to a Season 14 premiere that also happened to be the series' 300th episode. The show has big things planned for the 300-episode milestone, as showrunner Erica Messer recently revealed.

According to showrunner Erica Messer, the 300th episode kicks off with the team other than Reid and Garcia trying to determine what happened to the duo and what happened with VICAP Agent Meadows, who seemed like an ally for much of the Season 13 finale. The crisis will reach a climax, as to be expected, but the impact won't end when the final credits roll. Garcia in particular will be affected by what happens in the 300th episode. As if she didn't have enough of an emotional ride in Season 13! In her chat with TVLine, Messer revealed that "what she does to survive" is something they "never truly played before."

Garcia has spent far less time in the line of fire than most of the BAU, so perhaps what she does to survive will take her to some heretofore unexplored violent places. Could Garcia need to cross personal lines to escape? She'll undoubtedly want to help Reid and assist the BAU in catching the bad guys as well. No wonder she'll deal with the effects of what she goes through in episodes beyond the 300th in Season 14, which may get more episodes than we expected.

Maybe Shemar Moore could drop by as Derek Morgan one more time to give her some support and perhaps a shoulder to cry on. Fans undoubtedly wouldn't mind seeing Moore back with the BAU, even if only briefly. He wouldn't even need to switch networks to drop by Criminal Minds from his own show. Who do I have to talk to for S.W.A.T. to lend Moore for an episode of Criminal Minds?

The 300th episode -- appropriately titled "300" -- will see the rest of the team following clues in their own history to figure out why Reid and Garcia were targeted by Benjamin Merva and his cult. The BAU only has a certain amount of time to find and save them, as a "Believers" prophecy is set to be fulfilled. While we probably don't have to worry than Criminal Minds is going to kill any major characters off, all signs point toward an intense 300th episode that could be rewarding to longtime fans.

You can see for yourself when the 300th episode of Criminal Minds airs Wednesday, October 3 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. For more important fall TV dates, be sure to take a look at our 2018 fall premiere schedule.

Before its Season 12 finale, Criminal Minds had definitely given viewers plenty of reasons to gasp and get freaked out. But "Red Light" delivered the long-lasting drama's biggest shock yet, as the episode ended came to a full-stop just after most of the leads were involved in a massive car accident that will leave at least one character dead. Now, showrunner Erica Messer dropped the bombshell that when the newest cast member Daniel Henney enters the story in Criminal Minds' Season 13 premiere, not everyone is accounted for.

Dangit, Erica Messer! This is like adding potential injury to potential injury. Just compounding the stress and turmoil until it's unbearable. And I'm just talking about the viewers here!

Okay, so it likely won't be that bad for fans, as going missing doesn't necessarily mean being dead. Although if the disappearance is tied to the maniacal killer Mr. Scratch, who may or may not have been responsible for the multi-vehicle accident, then that character probably won't find much of a silver lining in having survived the crash. To that end, it's also interesting how Erica Messer told EW that Garcia and Simmons would "see who is injured," which also doesn't directly imply fatalities. Wisely, all involved have been mum about what actually happened, and this show doesn't exactly have fans trying to spoil things, as it goes with The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. And so we wait.

Thankfully, though, Criminal Minds will be bringing in a new (but familiar) face to Season 13 via Daniel Henney's aforementioned Agent Matt Simmons, who was ported over the drama after the cancellation of the spinoff series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. According to Messer, this season won't be bringing any additional agents into the fold beyond Simmons, although it's still pretty early to lay it all down like that, given that no one could have predicted all the casting change-ups in Season 12, which saw Thomas Gibson getting fired, followed by the additions of Adam Rodriguez and Damon Gupton, and then the full-time returns for both Paget Brewster and Aisha Tyler. (Gupton has already been let go, too.)

It's highly unlikely Criminal Minds will be killing off any of its major characters, and Messer did make it sound like this will be the only episode in which said character will be missing. So, hopefully, we'll get to find out what happened by the time the credits roll. Hot take: If it's Damon Gupton's Stephen Walker that's missing, and he turns out to be dead later, all without the actor actually appearing in the episode, people are going to start chanting Jason Gideon's name.

With almost everyone's fates generally left in the air, Criminal Minds will return to CBS for Season 13 on Wednesday, September 27, at 10:00 p.m. ET. Check out what crazy killer is returning to the show, and then head to our summer premiere schedule and our fall TV schedule to see everything hitting the small screen soon.

It's unfortunate that Criminal Minds stars may be leaving the show. However, if you are looking to add all of your favorite seasons with the original cast to your dvd or blu-ray collection, you can check that out here.

Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't yet watched Criminal Minds' wild season finale.

In Season 12, Criminal Minds has taken its story to places formerly untouched by its procedural narratives, giving Reid his own complication-filled serialized arc that other characters entered and exited while dealing with the perma-presence of big bad Mr. Scratch. And while the show has used a crossover or two in the past, audiences have never seen anything like the giant vehicular catastrophe that happened at the end of "Red Light," which put the majority of the main characters in dire straits. If you were as shocked as we were, here's showrunner Erica Messer's reasoning behind the finale's ending.

In terms of bucking predictions and subverting expectations, Erica Messer and her creative team knocked this one out of the park. Criminal Minds is a show about violent and dangerous people, but it's very rare for one of the leads to run into this kind of potentially fatal situation, and this was far more than just one of the leads. We might have even expected a more minor version of this cliffhanger to play out once the team actually reached Mr. Scratch's location, but before we could even consider what would happen, all hell broke loose. (More on everyone's fates here.)

The team was traveling in two SUVs which were taken down by a strip of spikes that popped off the ground, and that "accident" would have been bad enough, but then an 18-wheeler entered the picture and slammed into everyone. From the looks of things, Alvez, JJ and Walker were the ones most likely to live another unsub-stopping day. But things looked way more worse for the wear when it came to the vehicle that Rossi, Lewis and Prentiss were traveling in. Considering Paget Brewster and Aisha Tyler both became regulars in Season 12 -- in part because of the firing of Thomas Gibson -- it's unlikely they'll be going anywhere. But now that Erica Messer is embracing plot variations like this, no one is safe.

Below, Messer told TV Guide a bit more behind the general decision process to bring the cliffhanger into the episode.

You'd think that just bringing Shemar Moore back for an episode would have been the big news, but not even Derek Morgan can overshadow such a huge surprise. Sadly, fans won't be able to see what happened to Team BAU until Season 13 debuts, or maybe when the first trailers start coming out.

In the meantime, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders' two-part season finale will air on Wednesday, May 17, at 9:00 p.m. Head to our summer TV schedule to see when all the other returning and premiering shows will pop up in the coming months.

I think a majority of people take for granted how much work goes into a television series. While I'm sure we all recognize the amount of writing, acting and directing that happens, there's much more beyond that, and sometimes a show's crew has to fake an exotic location! Though CBS' Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders has shot on location, sometimes it's way cheaper just to keep everyone at home. An insane amount of work that goes into recreating these locations, however, and showrunner Erica Messer shared some of the craziness that went into creating Season 2 below:

It does indeed sound nuts to recreate a snowy Nepal scene in Los Angeles. While snow can fall quite regularly in the Nepal mountains, Los Angeles has gone around 50+ years without measurable snowfall, so the fact they were able to even create lasting snow cover is an achievement by itself! Then you realize that not only do you have to create the fluffy stuff on the ground, you also have to make it look like it's been hanging on trees, off of flowers, and anywhere else where snow would naturally fall. It's not easy, and it's precisely why businesses like "Snow Business" were created: t to relieve the headache of a bunch of crew members. It doesn't sound like the crew of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders got that kind of headache relief, so more power to them if they made it happen on their own.

Recreating mother nature is one thing, but surviving it can be another beast entirely. Everyone talks about how cool it was to shoot shows like Lost or Arrow on islands but no one mentions the potential 8-hour shoots in a humid jungle while bugs bite you and all that. Erica Messer adds Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders to the list as she recalls to TV Line a particularly brutal time shooting in Piru:

Man, Erica Messer really knows how to give a reality check for show business. Regardless of fandom, I'll be watching the Season 2 premiere of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders out of sheer admiration for the crazy stuff they did to make this season feel authentic! And if it helps anyone's excitement levels, the episode in Nepal will apparently feature murders that have the locals convinced that a Yeti is responsible. Cryptozoological Minds: Beyond Borders, perhaps?

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders returns this Wednesday on CBS at 10 p.m. ET. If you're a fan of crime shows (and hard work), check it out ,because CBS will drop a show like a sack of potatoes if you don't. Also be sure to check out our midseason premiere guide for anything else that may be coming out this week!

Of all the changes that television saw in 2016, from new shows to cancellations to everything in between, one of the biggest (and most heavily decried) was the firing of star Thomas Gibson from the CBS drama Criminal Minds following an on-set altercation with a writer. Since that controversial decision was made, showrunner Erica Messer has basically kept mum regarding the subject, but she has now opened up a bit. Saying no discussions about his return have happened, Messer answered if she would like to have Gibson's Hotch return to the show in the future. Her guarded response:

Let's be real here. While a potential return on the horizon is a nice thought, almost everybody who wants Thomas Gibson to return to Criminal Minds wants it to happen as quickly as possible, and there's not much optimism to be found in Erica Messer's words. If it's not happening in the immediate future, it's not happening this season.

The comparison to Mandy Patinkin is understandable, since they're two cast members that left on disagreeable terms, but it similarly inspires zilch for hope in catching up with Hotch on Criminal Minds. Patinkin memorably left the show in its early seasons, having a major problem with the violent subject matter. That actor clearly didn't want to return, continuing to lambast his own involvement with it, and Criminal Minds eventually killed his character Jason Gideon last year.

But that's not to say Erica Messer and the Criminal Minds creative team will give former Agent Hotch the same treatment. Speaking with TVGuide, her answers concerning Thomas Gibson and his character were genial and profession, seemingly lacking the edge of someone with a major grudge. And she talked at length about how important it was to write the character off in a way that respected him and the fans' love of him. Here, she explains why he wasn't killed off outright on his temporary mission.

So as long as Aaron Hotchner is still alive, under whatever assumed name he's going by, then there's a chance that he could still come back, even if it means having to wait until his son Jack is old enough to drink. But that probably won't stop the #NoHotchNoWatch movement from reneging on their protests.

With new cast members to spare, Criminal Minds airs Wednesday nights on CBS. To see everything else that's starting up soon, check out our midseason finale schedule.

Major spoilers for the Criminal Minds finale are below.

For eleven seasons now, Criminal Minds has given viewers a seemingly endless supply of dastardly unsubs, and tonight’s season finale gave audiences a jaw-dropping prison break cliffhanger that could put us right back in front of some of the craziest bastards the BAU has ever put behind bars.  After we watched the team successfully take apart both a bombing plot and prison escape, all was well for Rossi & Co. until it was revealed several other unthwarted prison breaks occurred elsewhere, putting 13 highly dangerous serial killers back on the streets. Here’s why the show decided to go with such a bold choice, according to showrunner Erica Messer.

That’s as good an example as any that the creative spark can come at any time and under any circumstances. Had someone asked Messer at the end of Season 10 where she thought Season 12 would go, none of this would have been on her mind at all. But because Aisha Tyler’s Tara Lewis was such a great new character, her material sparked the idea of bringing back familiar bad guys as well as giving audiences a rare look at a twisty Criminal Minds finale cliffhanger, which we haven’t gotten in many seasons.

Plus, this ending allows viewers to theorize all summer long just what past criminals we might be seeing in Season 12 (always assuming, of course, that CBS is going to put that renewal in soon). We know that Mr. Scratch is out there, but there are a ton of others that could also show up. Messer says that part of those decisions will involve actors’ availability, but that she will indeed be making an initial list of favorites with the writers. She also explained to TV Guide the other choices she and her creative team will be mulling over.

Season 11 already gave us the departure of Derek Morgan and the brief return of Emily Prentiss, and this finale was a great way to expand the story without killing off a major character or making us worry that something like that might have happened. And it definitely makes me excited to see how the manhunts play out next season. So get to renewing Criminal Minds, CBS, so that my excitement isn’t for naught.