Posted in: CBS, Paramount+, TV | Tagged: Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds Showrunner Previews S19, Voit, Guest Stars & More

Criminal Minds: Evolution Showrunner Erica Messer previews Season 19 and discusses building on Zach Gilford's Voit, guest stars, and more.

Showrunner Erica Messer has been synonymous with Criminal Minds since the series' Jeff Davis-created debut. Even after the original run ended in 2020, the hiatus was brief. Davis moved on and handed the keys to the franchise to Messer, who's been guiding the ship ever since through the Evolution era, with its first season (considered season 16 of canon) on Paramount+ since 2022. Entering Evolution's fourth season (season 19), Messer spoke to Bleeding Cool about Zach Gilford's serial killer, Elias Voit, who's been a thorn at the BAU side since the series' return, now embracing the Hannibal Lecter-type of advisory role, how the BAU's loss of (Josh Stewart) Will LaMontague Jr in season 18 will impact the crew one year later, season 19's guest stars including Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie, and if there are more legacy favorites we can look forward to.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Showrunner on Gilford's Voit, Life After Will for J. J., Stacked Guest Stars, and More

BC: What does it mean to have Zach Gilford working his journey for three seasons as Elias Voit, and how does that carry over into season 19, now embracing more of a Hannibal Lecter-type of role?

Messer: Yeah, we've really had such casting luck getting Zach to play Elias Voit in the first season of Evolution, and I think because of him and his performance, bringing that character to life is why he kept getting renewed every year since there was always more to tell. The fact that we…first, he's like hiding and never even knew he existed, then he's captured, and he knows something we don't know. He then gets a traumatic brain injury and doesn't even remember being the bad guy that we all know he is to this season, being locked up presumably for the rest of his days. He becomes this living resource that the BAU normally does interviews with and they try to pick their brain as much as possible, so it felt like a natural progression for that character. More importantly, for our characters to be up for these new challenges, dealing with somebody like that.

Now, with the loss of Will, is that impact carrying over this season, or is it one of those short-memory things, and what does that mean?

No, thanks for asking that. It will always be another layer to JJ's (A. J. Cook) character, right? She is carrying that with her, but now it's been a year between the seasons, so it doesn't have to be as fresh as it was in season 18, but she's on a new journey in terms of life will go on. She's sending Henry (Mekhai Andersen) off to college by the end of this season (18); it's really one more reminder of how different life is once Will was gone.

You have such a wealth of talented guest stars this season, with Connor Storrie, Justin Kirk, Yvette Nicole Brown, Clark Gregg, Jeri Ryan, and so many others. What's it like having it on board, and were there any dream guest stars among them that you tried to get for previous seasons that you didn't get until now?

We are so spoiled with our main cast and guest cast. We have incredible talent bringing these words to life and couldn't be more fortunate. I feel like we were able to get different people for different reasons. The director of the premiere (Doug Aarniokoski) had worked with Jeri Ryan on 'Star Trek: Picard,' and also other shows in the franchise, so he knew her, and that could just be a phone call, "Hey, do you want to come do this?" Thankfully, she was in, and we were so lucky to have her. Paul F. Tompkins has been around with us for a few seasons, even in the network version (pre-Evolution), so it was a delight to have him come back and host the 'Securius' podcast.

Clark Gregg returns as our (FBI) director (Ray Madison), who is a friend. Always a delight to have him, but oh my gosh, Connor Storrie, Justin Kirk, Yvette Nicole Brown, they all end up in a scene together at some point in the season, and it's just like, everything lights up on the screen. They're just incredible, and we met Connor in episode four of our show, so that was like in the summertime, long before 'Heated Rivalry' was out, so we didn't know. He said, "I'd done this show for HBO, but it hadn't launched," so none of us knew what it was, and then when it launched, we're like, "Oh my God! It's Connor!" [laughs]

You had Matthew [Gray Gubler's Spencer Reid] come back last season. Was there any sense of where he might be as far as this coming season? Are there favorites that you get asked about most by fans who are still elusive or maybe out of reach, and hope to bring them in at some point in the future?

When we told this story that we told in season 18 with Will, it just felt so important to have Matthew there, that this is when in real life, this is one where friends gather for friends, right? That happened to us; we are all friends. We've all been in each other's lives so long, so the fact that it timed out and he could be in LA for the couple of days that we needed to shoot the funeral was kind of magic that lined up. I think the good news is everybody's busy. Everybody always wants to know, "Is Matthew coming back or Daniel Henney?" We love those guys, and we're all so thrilled that they're busy doing other projects.

The new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which also stars Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, RJ Hatanaka, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster, premieres May 28th on Paramount+.

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