Posted in: CBS, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: cbs, Criminal Minds, paramount plus, streaming
Criminal Minds Revival Still In Development: "It Is Alive and Well"
So what's the deal with Paramount+'s announced revival of CBS' popular crime procedural Criminal Minds? Last February, the streamer announced that plans were underway to bring the show's team back together to investigate one major case across a ten-episode season. Sounded great, right? But then the summer came around and series star Paget Brewster seemed to be giving folks that the project was dead revival walking with the reunion "unlikely." Okay, so which is it? Well, from the sounds of things from Nicole Clemens, President, Paramount+ Original Scripted Series, at today's Television Critics Association (TCA) press event, everything is still a go. "We are still very much in development on 'Criminal Minds.' We'll have more to share on that soon but it is alive and well," Clemens responded when asked about the conflicting reports, saying that executive shuffle on the corporate level is what led to the delay and that it had nothing to do with the project itself. Criminal Minds executive producer/showrunner Erica Messer is expected to lead the creative, with talks reportedly in play to bring back most if not all cast members from the show's final CBS season.
Created by Jeff Davis and boasting a 15-season run that included Mandy Patinkin, Shemar Moore, Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler, Matthew Gray Gubler, Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini, Adam Rodriguez, AJ Cook, and Brewster in its ranks, the series focused on a team of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit, using behavioral analysis and profiling to investigate crimes and find perpetrators. The show not only told the story of the team as they worked on various cases but also focused on their personal struggles. The series would go on to spin-off two series, the single-season Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (which ran for two seasons). The show has also been killer on streaming, with Criminal Minds the third-most-streamed series on Netflix in 2020 (behind only The Office and Grey's Anatomy).