CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Season 2 Key Art | ©2024 Paramount+

Depending on how one reckons it, what’s launching on Paramount Plus on Thursday, June 6, is either Season 2 of CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION or Season 17 of CRIMINAL MINDS.

The series, which launched in 2005, concerns the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, or BAU. These are the special agents who profile and track down serial killers. CRIMINAL MINDS spent fifteen years on CBS. That run ended in February 2020, but CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION began in November 2022 on Paramount Plus, with most of the cast and creative team from the network run still involved.

Erica Messer has been a writer/producer on CRIMINAL MINDS since 2005, and currently serves as showrunner and one of the executive producers. She also created the 2016-2017 spinoff, CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS. Messer’s other previous writing and/or producing credits include ALIAS, CHARMED, and THE O.C.

Messer gets on a Zoom call with Assignment X to talk about the evolution of CRIMINAL MINDS, and tease what we can expect this season.

For starters, when CRIMINAL MINDS left CBS, did Messer expect it would come back in some form, or was CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION a happy surprise?

“I felt like we could have gone on for much longer,” Messer says. “So, when we got canceled after Season 15, I thought, ‘Oh, well, we have more stories to tell, so if it ever does want to come back, we could do that.’ Which is why I kind of left it as though Garcia was the only one who had left, and we could untie that bow if we needed to and come back. Our finale for that season was February of 2020, and then obviously, the world changed in March of that year.

“And then, by August of that year, I got an unexpected call, saying, ‘Hey, would you consider bringing the show back for the Paramount Plus platform?’ And I said, ‘Ooh, that could be fun.’ And then I asked the cast if they wanted to do it, and they did. Some of them were off on other projects, so they couldn’t, but six of the eight could, and so we jumped right in, and wanted to build on what we had done for fifteen seasons, and change it up just enough that it felt like there was a reason we were back, and that we could do something different now that we were on a streaming service.”

Among those “different” things is the ability to have characters use more colorful language. Were the actors relieved to be able to speak words that people in their characters’ situations would normally employ?

Messer laughs. “When certain characters say it, you don’t even hear it. It’s so natural for that to come out of Joe [Mantegna, as David Ross] – they sound like law enforcement who would encounter these insane scenes that they come upon. But then, when other characters say it, you do pause, and that’s when you realize, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re on streaming,’ when you hear Garcia [played by Kirsten Vangsness] or J.J. [played by A.J. Cook] say something, you sit up a little bit. But I think they’re all relieved. We’re not overdoing it, but I would say that is one of the biggest changes creatively, is that you hear dialogue that you never would have heard on the CBS version.”

However, Messer adds, the gore factor has remained about the same as on the network edition. “It’s interesting. I do think the Season 17 premiere has some pretty visceral things in terms of enucleation and that kind of thing. But I would say overall, our goal was to keep it in the same vein in terms of, we didn’t want to show more, we didn’t want to go more violent than we normally do. We felt the biggest change would be the language, versus the visual.”

The original CRIMINAL MINDS primarily had standalone episodes, although there were multi-episode arcs. In CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION, Season 1/Season 16 is completely arced, with the BAU team seeking prolific serial killer Elias Voigt (Zach Gilford). Unlike many serial killers, Elias has a completely normal-looking home life with a wife and children, who are unaware of his homicidal activities. What makes Elias so dangerous is that he doesn’t just commit murders himself; he’s set up a Dark Web chat group for aspiring serial killers who network with him.

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION ended with a surprise and a cliffhanger. The BAU finally captured Elias, only to have the Powers That Be roll in and take over his case, which continues in the new season. Was the plan always to have an arc that encompassed multiple seasons?

“Initially,” Messer explains, “we thought it would just be the one bad guy for ten episodes, and then it became Zach Gilford. And he is so good as Elias Voigt that we said, ‘We think we’re going to keep him around’,” she laughs. “And so, we got him for this year, and he went from being one of the worst killers we’ve ever encountered to now being the Hannibal Lecter, if you will, of this season. He’s locked up, he’s behind bars that are behind bars that are behind bars, but he still manages to infiltrate our team and shake our confidence a little bit, and we learn this year, his greatest weapon is actually his mind, and the fact that the team, after fifteen seasons, sixteen seasons, they’ve never had to consult with a killer the way they have to consult with him. And so, it’s a big learning curve for all of us this year, as storytellers, and for the cast, to be affected by this character as much as they are. They’re really all incredible.”

Is it easier or harder to tell a story that arcs over so many episodes, as opposed to doing standalones, or short arcs?

“I think it’s definitely more of a challenge,” Messer replies. “I think it’s almost like, you just look at the target, if you were trying to shoot an arrow into the bullseye there. You’ve got to hit perfectly in the center to tell serialized stories. It makes it a little bit more difficult, but creatively, I do think it’s more rewarding. I’m speaking on behalf of all of our writers – we are really liking the serialized nature of this. And because we have a cast that can handle anything you throw at them, they just bring it all to life in a way that is better than anything we could imagine. And then Zach being our bad guy has really added to all of that.”

As of this writing, it’s not known if CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION is picked up for another season. What will the season finale be?

Messer smiles. “Cliffhanger. Because why not?”

What would Messer most like people to know about CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION right now?

“Oh, boy. Hang on tight, it’s a dramatic, traumatic season.”

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Related: CRIMINAL MINDS: Paget Brewster talks Season 12 and her return to MINDS – exclusive interview
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Article: CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Showrunner  Erica Messer on Season 2 – Exclusive Interview

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