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“Criminal Minds” ended its run on CBS after 15 seasons of the highly-watched procedural drama. The show’s brilliant profilers and bad guy hunters at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit took down a particularly cruel and crafty “unknown subject” (or UnSub) known as The Chameleon and then went on to other law enforcement adventures. A little over a year later, it was reported by Deadline that CBS’s streaming sibling Paramount+ was making moves toward reviving “Criminal Minds” for Season 16.
The new season of “Criminal Minds” got off to a shaky start, despite the fact that fans had already expressed their support for the show. After a number of false starts, false stops, and hiccups, with long-time original series star Paget Brewster even declaring the reboot unlikely if not impossible, “Criminal Minds” actually will be back, and soon, in a daring new format, and available to viewers in a completely new way. This comes after “Criminal Minds” went through quite a few starts, stops, and hiccups. The latest BAU-centered, good versus evil saga, “Criminal Minds: Evolution,” is discussed in detail below, along with everything else there is to know about it.
When Will the Sixteenth Season of Criminal Minds Be Available to Watch?
According to a report that was published by Deadline in February 2022, the production companies ABC Signature and CBS Studios had negotiated a deal to bring back the “Criminal Minds” television show as an original offering on the streaming service Paramount+, which is affiliated with CBS. After making that arrangement and signing a deal with long-serving “Criminal Minds” showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer (via Deadline), the new season was free to enter production. In July 2022, Paramount+ officially ordered a new season of “Criminal Minds,” which would be the 16th overall season and the first to air exclusively on a streaming platform.
In the midst of all of the announcements regarding the revival of “Criminal Minds,” including the cast, plot, and distribution, Paramount+ failed to provide a clear timeline for “Criminal Minds” Season 16, or rather “Criminal Minds: Evolution,” in terms of when the show’s episodes could realistically be written, filmed, edited, and made available on streaming services.
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It appears that filming has begun, judging by the set photos that were made public in September of 2022. In the same month, it was reported by TheWrap that the anticipation would soon be over, as “Criminal Minds: Evolution” would make its debut on Paramount+ on November 24 (which is also Thanksgiving Day), with new episodes being released weekly through February 2023.
What is the Storyline for the Sixteenth Season of Criminal Minds?
In recent years, television has become increasingly serialized; however, one of “Criminal Minds'” appeals was its ability to keep viewers coming back with an old-school, case-of-the-week format. This was one of the reasons why the show was so successful.
According to Deadline, the upcoming 16th season of “Criminal Minds” will do away with that format and instead take on the appearance of a limited series. The storyline will center on a single, significant case that will be resolved over the course of all 10 episodes of the season. This is one of the primary motivations behind the decision to rebrand “Criminal Minds” as a spin-off project that will be known as “Criminal Minds: Evolution.”
This time around, the crime story is far too extensive, intricate, and nerve-racking to be covered in just one episode of “Criminal Minds.” The person who is being hunted is a mastermind who assembled a group of serial killers who were in contact with one another during the pandemic. This individual is referred to as “UnSub” in the show and in BAU jargon.
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They patiently waited for the world to emerge from the coronavirus lockdowns so that they could commit mass murder on a large scale. When the world was shut down, they quietly prepared a killing spree in concert and bided their time. It is the responsibility of the BAU team to locate each of these murderers and bring an end to that dangerous network.
In the meantime, Emily Prentiss’ position as head of the elite squad will be called into question by a new deputy director who is eager to make a name for themselves, as reported by TVLine. This will cause some internal political drama within the BAU.
Who Will Be Starring in the Upcoming 16th Season of Criminal Minds?
Any new season or revival of the franchise would need to include at least some of the familiar faces playing the characters that anchored the show and kept viewers coming back episode after episode for a decade and a half. Since “Criminal Minds” is as much an ensemble drama series as it is a crime procedural, any new season or revival of the franchise would need to include at least some of the familiar faces playing the characters.
According to Deadline, six longtime cast members of “Criminal Minds” agreed to return to the series early on in its pre-production stage, provided that they were available and that they could work out contracts that were acceptable to them. According to Deadline, after the series was given the official go-ahead, contracts with all six actors were signed.
Paget Brewster will reprise her role as SSA David Rossi, and Joe Mantegna will keep playing the role of Senior Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi. Emily Prentiss, Adam Rodriguez as Fugitive Task Force Agent Luke Alvez, Kirsten Vangsness as BAU technical analyst Penelope Garcia, A.J. Cook as SSA J.J. Jareau, and Aisha Tyler as forensic psychologist Dr.
Tara Lewis will all reprise their roles from the previous season. According to TVLine, Zach Gilford of “Friday Night Lights” will play a new character named Elias Voit, who works as an operations analyst for a cyber-security company and also happens to have an unhealthy preoccupation with death and troubling inner darkness.
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This cast list for “Criminal Minds” has two glaring omissions that are hard to overlook. Both Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays Dr. Spencer Reid, and Daniel Henney, who plays Matt Simmons, are not likely to return to the show because they are both committed to appearing in “The Wheel of Time” on Prime Video. Gubler would rather look forward to new roles than look backward at the one he played for 15 seasons of the show.
Criminal Minds Season 16: Trailer?
On November 4, 2022, less than three weeks before the first episode of Season 16 of “Criminal Minds” debuted on Paramount+, the streaming service released the first official trailer for “Criminal Minds: Evolution.” “Criminal Minds: Evolution” will focus on a single, complex case.
Over shots of well-used killing lairs, a mysterious voice says that the world’s most evil could plan their next move during “the witching hour” Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Prentiss (Paget Brewster), and Dr. Lewis (Aisha Tyler) explain that during the coronavirus pandemic, an “Unsub” amassed followers and sleeper agents, forming a serial killer collective.
The BAU has changed after the pandemic, as agents are stymied and disgusted by this new crime wave, discovered after the recovery of a shipping container with 16 dead bodies murdered between 2005 and 2020 — the number of seasons and the original run of “Criminal Minds,” respectively.
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