Another CBS hit series is planning a return on the network’s streaming service, Paramount+. According to Deadline, a revival of crime procedural, Criminal Minds, is in development with six original series cast members attached to return. This announcement comes a year after the network initially stated a reboot was in the works.
Deadline reports series regulars Paget Brewster (Community, American Dad), A.J. Cook (Final Destination 2, The Virgin Suicides), Joe Mantegna (Baby’s Day Out, Cars 2), Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami, Magic Mike XXL), Aisha Tyler (Friends, Whose Line Is It Anyway?), and Kristin Vangsness (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders) are discussing potential multi-year contracts for a 10-episode season. The deals would be non-exclusive, allowing the stars to recur as often as their schedules will allow. In addition to their deals being finalized, ABC Signature, the series’ lead studio, is completing a deal to bring back long-time executive producer and showrunner, Erica Messer (The Biggest Little Farm).
The original series was created by Jeff Davis (Teen Wolf) and chronicled a group of criminal profilers combating the most heinous crimes for the FBI. Mantegna led the team as Agent David Rossi. Other personnel included Tech Analyst Penelope Gracia, played by Vangsness, and Unit Chief Emily Prentiss, played by Brewster. The other three actors are suited to return as their season fifteen characters: Cook as JJ Jareau, Tyler as Tara Lewis, and Rodriguez as Luke Alvez. The revival seeks to pick up a new mystery for the team to solve over the course of the season.
Two main characters from the show’s final season are missing from this list. According to Deadline, Daniel Henry, who portrayed Henry Simmons, is currently a regular on Amazon’s fantasy epic, The Wheel of Time. As that series has been renewed for two more seasons, the door is open for him to return as his schedule permits. Beloved character Spencer Reid will not be returning as actor Matthew Gray Gubler (Alvin and the Chipmunks, 68 Kill) previously expressed no need to return.
The revival experienced quite a journey to this point. Deadline reports after the show’s initial announcement, discussions with the actors stalled last summer. Many, including Brewster, thought the project was dead. However, Paramount+’s President of Original Series, Nicole Clemens, recently told the press that the series was “alive and well.”
“We are still very much in development on Criminal Minds,” Clemens explained at the streamer’s virtual TCA executive session via Deadline. Clemens detailed at the TCA session that internal personnel changes delayed the discussions. By the fall, talks with the cast resumed and were near completion by December.
All 15 seasons of Criminal Minds are available to stream on Paramount+. Twelve of those seasons still remain on Netflix, where the show saw impressive numbers as one of the platform’s top performers, third behind only Grey’s Anatomy and The Office.