Since its debut in 2005, the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds has consistently ranked among the network’s most-watched shows and it simply refuses to slow down.
After the 15th (and supposedly final) season ended in February 2020, Paramount+ picked up the production for a revamped season 16, which aired in November 2022. Mid-way through that season, the streamer announced a seventeenth season of Criminal Minds: Evolution was already in the works!
It’s worth noting that the new season was announced in January 2023, but production was pushed due to the Hollywood labor strikes. Now that everything’s moving forward, here’s what we know about the upcoming 17th season.
The cast remains unchanged
Speaking with TVLine, Criminal Minds: Evolution showrunner Erica Messer confirmed that filming for the revived next season began in January 2024, and all of the characters from season 16 will reprise their roles. That means main characters David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (AJ Cook), Penelope Garcia (Kristen Vangsness), Dr. Tara Lewis (Aisha Taylor), Like Alves (Adam Rodriguez) and Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) will return, along with Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) in a recurring role.
Early on in season sixteen Special Agents Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Matt Simmons (Daniel Henney) were written off due to scheduling conflicts. There’s no word yet on whether these characters will return from their “special assignment” in time to join the cast for the next season, but Messer says they’re hopeful and are keeping the door open just in case.
One character who will not return is Will LaMontagne Jr., played by longtime cast member Josh Stewart. The actor announced his departure from the show on X, writing, “sadly, my days of playing Will LaMontagne Jr. are over. You guys have been the absolute best.”
What will season 17 be about?
Like all Criminal Minds seasons before it, season 17 will focus on a group of criminal profilers in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). Last season, the BAU profilers faced one of their biggest challenges to date when they went after Elias Voit (Gilford), an UnSub (unknown subject) who created a web of serial killers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voit was seemingly apprehended at the end of season 16, but his final moments on screen left us wondering if there was more to his story planned for future episodes. Whoever paid him a visit in prison knows an awful lot about the secret government program Gold Star, after all.
In another interview with TVLine, Messer confirmed that Voit will indeed return in the next season. “You have not seen the last of Elias,” she said, adding that the Gold Star story will feature prominently in the next few episodes. “It’s sort of like, ‘We thought we knew everything, we thought we know all about the [Sicarius] network and Voit and all this stuff.’ So for Voit to drop that bomb, and to have it mean something to [ill-fated FBI deputy director] Bailey, it’s our jump-start into the next season, for sure.”
In spite of that declaration, Messer also said that Voit will not be the focus of the season as he was in season sixteen. She called season seventeen a “hybrid,” so the first four episodes are serialized, but the rest of the season will be more character-driven individual story lines.
Finally, when and where can we watch?
All ten episodes of season 17 of Criminal Minds: Evolution are currently in production, so there’s no official premiere date just yet. Paramount+ will host season 17, and its website predicts a “Spring” release, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it were closer to summer by the time it’s all done. As always, we’ll keep you posted when we learn more!
In the meantime, you can stream all sixteen of the previous seasons of Criminal Minds on Paramount+.
(featured image: CBS)
