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After a long wait and a series of twists, CBS' procedural drama Criminal Minds is set to return to TV screens, bringing back the familiar faces of Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Adam Rodriguez, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler, and Paget Brewster. Hype around the series' renewal has been building for a while, and Paramount+ has finally given a ten-episode season order for the prolific show.
Long-time executive producer Erica Messer is also set to return for the revival. She signed a deal with the network a couple of months ago. The actors' deals were contingent on Messer's agreement with the channel. Deadline reported Criminal Minds' revival back in February 2022, claiming that ABC Signature and CBS Studios had reached an agreement for the same.
Criminal Minds revival finally confirmed after a year and a half of speculation
The beloved show, which originally began airing in 2005, was given the nod for its revival almost a year and a half prior to the final announcement this week.
Joe Mantegna, one of the main cast members of the procedural show, teased the update in a Twitter post, saying:
"Just doing a little inspection today for an upcoming project. #criminalminds"
Over the years, Criminal Minds has become one of the most-watched CBS shows, making its potential revival quite profitable for the channel. The original run of the show aired 324 episodes across 15 seasons. Suspect Behavior and Beyond Borders were two spinoffs of the franchise, but they did not become hugely successful. The original series, on the other hand, continues to draw in viewers to this day.
The new series from Paramount+ will be different to its predecessor, adopting modern-day TV aesthetics to boost its appeal. Unlike the original show, which featured a new case in every episode, this ten-episode revival will focus on one complicated case that will slowly unravel over the course of the series.
The long-drawn uncertainty regarding the show's revival resulted in rumors that it had been scrapped by the channel. Tanya Giles, Chief Programming Officer at ViacomCBS Streaming, has dismissed these rumors, saying:
"We are still very much in development on Criminal Minds. We’ll have more to share soon on that, but it is alive and well."
What to expect from the revival?
The official synopsis of the upcoming show reads:
"The series follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject)."
The synopsis then goes on to provide details about the team members and elaborates on the role they are going to play in the upcoming series.
"The team is supervised by Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. The team included Jason Gideon, the founder of the BAU, Derek Morgan, an ex-Chicago Police officer who is an expert on obsessional crimes, Spencer Reid, an expert on geographic profiling, Jennifer Jareau (JJ), the team's communications liaison, Elle Greenway, an expert on s*x crimes, David Rossi, one of the original BAU agents who is also an expert in criminal profiling, Ashley Seaver, a rookie FBI agent, Alex Blake, a linguistics specialist, Kate Callahan, a seasoned undercover agent, and Tara Lewis, a forensic psychologist."
The release date for the upcoming revival of Criminal Minds is yet to be announced.
