‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Renewed at Paramount+ 

Get ready for more disturbing (and darker) cases.

Paramount+ has renewed Criminal Minds: Evolution, the second of the franchise’s iteration on the streaming service and 17th overall (after a 15-year run on CBS). Production is expected to begin in 2023.

This news comes on the same day it returned from its midseason break. The season finale will be available to stream on Thursday, February 9. Criminal Minds: Evolution is one of Paramount+’s top five original series and has driven the overall franchise to see an increase of nearly six times in month-over-month viewership.

“We’re thrilled to bring even more twisted storylines to our loyal fans of Criminal Minds: Evolution with the order of another season,” said Tanya Giles, chief programming officer of Paramount Streaming, in a statement. “The series has always been a consistent top performer for Paramount+ and fans have quickly embraced this new season with its more serialized elements. There are still many dark twists and turns yet to come for the BAU this season and we can’t wait for fans to see what’s in store.”

The current season sees the FBI’s elite team of profilers hunting down their greatest threat yet, an UnSub (played by Zach Gilford) who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. The original series’ cast members who have reprising their roles are Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), A.J. Cook (Jennifer “JJ” Jareau), Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia), Aisha Tyler (Dr. Tara Lewis), Adam Rodriguez (Luke Alvez), and Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss).

With this renewal, it’s possible we could get more than the vague updates we have about Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Matt Simmons’ (Daniel Henney) assignments. Due to the actors’ availability, they were not able to return this season, but showrunner Erica Messer did tease to TV Insider, “it’ll come into play next year what they’ve been doing.”

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We also already know that the finale of this season will “set up the promise of more to come,” in addition to offering “a satisfying ending to this 10-episode run,” according to Messer. And that could include some of the serial killers who sent Voit photos in Episode 2. “There’s so many things that we haven’t been able to investigate. In our search for him, there’s some people and some things we can sort of solve, but in other ways, there’s so many, right? It was like 17,000 people had communicated with him. So it’s overwhelming when you think of it like that.”

And we can’t wait to watch (or even look away if it’s anything like the UnSub who gave his victims the choice between paralysis or death).

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+