Showrunner Erica Messer and stars Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, Aisha Tyler, Kirsten Vangsness, A.J.
Cook, and Adam Rodriguez preview the Paramount+ revival.
The BAU is back, baby.
Paget Brewster and Aisha Tyler in the ‘Criminal Minds’ revival.Michael Yarish / Paramount+
Criminal MindsalumsJoe Mantegna,Paget Brewster,Aisha Tyler,Kirsten Vangsness,A.J.
Cook, andAdam Rodriguezwill reprise their fan-favorite roles in Paramount+’s revival of the crime drama.
As it turns out, the BAU didn’t need much convincing to return.
Aisha Tyler, A.J. Cook, Adam Rodriguez, Kirsten Vangsness, Paget Brewster, and Joe Mantegna in the new ‘Criminal Minds’ revival.Michael Yarish /Paramount+
“I trusted everything about it.
Below, the cast and crew tease the new season and possible return of other beloved characters.
“They haven’t gone away.”
Joe Mantegna in the ‘Criminal Minds’ revival.Monty Brinton /Paramount+
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me more about the decision to bring the show back.
And within weeks, the world completely changed.
It just excited all of us to be able to come back and tell familiar but fresh stories.
Adam Rodriguez and A.J. Cook in the ‘Criminal Minds’ revival, ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’.Monty Brinton /Paramount+
That’s the hope.
We all ended the show together.
What was it about the project that emboldened you all to return?
JOE MANTEGNA (David Rossi): I didn’t need much of a pitch.
I trusted the experience.
I trusted the people.
I trusted everything about it.
I never even saw a script.
Why wouldn’t you?
AISHA TYLER (Tara Lewis): The end of the show was really bittersweet.
We all felt as a team that we had hit this incredible kind of alchemical stride.
We just were so connected as a cast.
We loved being around each other.
There was just this joyfulness, too.
When season 15 ended, I just think that everybody felt like we weren’t done.
I work with the coolest people.
We are genuinely friends.
Every time [I] do an interview and someone goes, “What do you think?
Why do you think people love watchingCriminal Minds?”
I think they love this constant underscore of: We genuinely dig each other.
I play one of the greatest characters ever.
And Erica was going to be on board so yes, sign me up.
It was more about the people.
That’s the biggest part of it, getting the gang back together again.
We’re all excited to raise the bar a little bit.
There’s a pandemic backdrop this time around.
How do we find the core characters when the season begins?
MESSER:Everybody’s in a very different place.
We’ve got Prentiss, who has now been promoted outside of the BAU unit chief.
She has a new position where she oversees dozens of units.
Rossi has taken her place as unit chief, but he’s going through a big thing.
We will learn why by the end of the first hour.
The word from above, the bureaucrats, is, “Do more with less.”
I think we can all relate to that as well.
Our teams have been downsized and everybody’s still got the same amount of work to do.
Quite a bit of drama.
It’s going to be apparent.
And if she does it, is she crossing a line with her job responsibilities?
She is feeling the anxiety of not being there and trying to protect everyone in the BAU.
And who is this big, bad serial killer?
You see it, the inability to have a normal family life.
For Tara, she’s let a lot go in her life.
How does that work?”
You’ll find out and see… [Penelope] does not want to go back to the BAU.
When the show starts, I don’t think the job and Garcia are energetically matching.
The group is very much family.
RODRIGUEZ:[Luke] has delved deeper into his work and the routine that gives him.
He’s spent the time trying to hone his craft.
There’s always that fine line.
I think we will continue to ride that line and have a lot of fun doing it.
We will see if we ever decide to cross it.
The two characters together are so funny because they’re so different.
The audience will get to see some more of that.
Then, the pandemic got out of control and they decided to come back.
It really does come across that way because we’re stronger together.
The pandemic has been really hard on a lot of our characters.
We’re going to see some things that are heartbreaking but very relatable.
We’ve all been through the ringer through quarantine and COVID.
We really wanted to pay homage to that.
What can you divulge about this mysterious new unsub?
We’re going to be showing you that over stretches of episodes.
Why they do what they do is always going to be the heart ofCriminal Minds.
Does he have anything normal in his world?
One of his little rules is: No body, no crime.
So why is he doing that?
Is it just, “No body, no crime?”
Or is there another psychological component to that?
We start asking and looking at things a little bit differently than we would in a normalCriminal Minds.
In what ways will these characters be incorporated into the revival?
MESSER:So their desks will still have stuff on them.
They haven’t gone away.
Shemar’s character went away when his son was born.
He stepped away from the FBI, so his desk has been empty for a while.
But Dr. Reed’s desk still has all of his books on it and all of his belongings.
Almost that same time capsule that…
It’s something we can’t really discuss.
But if and when they return, it’s up to them.
It’s dependent on their schedules.
I can’t promise anything right now.
But it’s the hope.
Describe the revival in three words.
MESSER: The title [of the first] episode, which is “Just Getting Started.”
BREWSTER:Buckle up folks?
I’m trying to think.
Wheels up, buddies?
TYLER:I’m going to say, “Joy against darkness.”
VANGSNESS:Sexy, sexy, bloody.
Bloody and sexy and then sexy again.
COOK:It’s just a more textured, elevated, mindfk.
RODRIGUEZ:It’s bigger, faster, stronger.
Criminal Mindsreturns to Paramount+ this fall.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
