Criminal Minds is officially coming back!
That much we’ve known for a while now, but we didn’t have any clarity on when it could be back.
Thankfully, the cameras get rolling very soon, and Paramount+ confirmed the order in a statement Thursday.
“For 15 seasons, CRIMINAL MINDS was at the forefront of cutting-edge scripted drama as it explored the psychology behind crime – thrillingly,” said Nicole Clemens, President, Paramount+ Original Scripted Series.
“The series never stopped evolving during its run, and we are beyond excited to bring it back into a new era with new stories for a new generation of viewers at Paramount+.”
“Erica, the whole cast and creative team are building a season full of new twists that we are sure will electrify audiences.”
Thankfully, the revival will be under the leadership of Erica Messer, who worked on the original series as showrunner for several seasons, bringing some of the best storylines to the forefront.
The new iteration of Criminal Minds will be a little bit different from its predecessor, with the series taking on a season-long arc as opposed to a more procedural series.
“The FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers,” reads the logline for the 10-episode comeback season.
“Now, as the world opens back up, the network goes operational, and our team must hunt them down, one murder at a time.”
It’s a compelling hook, and while many TV shows haven’t utilized the pandemic as well as they could have, this plot certainly makes you wonder what these villains got up to when people were quarantined at home.
Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster are the only confirmed returning cast members … for now.
The streaming service said on Thursday that additional cast members will be announced at a later date.
Whether that means we could be getting more OGs, we don’t know, but we’ll certainly be waiting on some more intel.
CBS’ original Criminal Minds series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed an elite team of FBI profilers who analyzed the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they struck again.
What are your thoughts on the new season and the format?
Hit the comments.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.