Popular CBS FBI procedural Criminal Minds is getting the spinoff treatment again. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders airs its first episode Wednesday, March 16 at 10 p.m., airing right after the original show.
Fans of Criminal Minds got a taste of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders near the end of the original show’s last season in an episode that served as the backdoor pilot, much like what happened when the first spinoff of the show, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, had a backdoor pilot in the fifth season of the original show. According to TVLine, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior was canceled in May 2011 after airing only one season, so hopefully the new season won’t get the same treatment.
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders is described as being similar to the original show, but instead of a team of profilers working to solve crimes and catch criminals (known as unsubs in the show) that take place in the United States, the spinoff will focus on disappearances of American citizens who go missing while they’re aborad, which is stated in the trailer that CBS has been airing to promote the show.
The show stars Gary Sinise (Lieutenant Dan from Forest Gump and Mac from CSI: NY), Annie Funke, Tyler James Williams and Daniel Henney.
In July 2015, TVLine announced that Alana De La Garza had joined the cast after booking on recurring role on Scorpion and after the show Forever, in which she was a cast member, was canceled. De La Garza is set to play Clara, “a smart, well-traveled cultural anthropologist on the International Response Team.”
In a review of the show by The Hollywood Reporter, it seems to be implied that the show takes the formula of the original Criminal Minds episodes and flips it around at times, as it seems to prey on some people’s fears of the unknown when it comes to foreign countries and the people who reside there.
However, the review also remarks that the show does stick to the original Criminal Minds formula, such as the first eight minutes of the show featuring two young women crying and begging for freedom, the only difference being that they’re abroad versus somewhere in the United States.
While a renewal for Criminal Minds hasn’t been announced yet, the show has done well in its eleventh season on air (and CBS usually announces renews towards the middle and end of March).
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders airs tonight (March 16) at 10 p.m. on CBS.