“Criminal Minds” will be making its way back to TV with a Thanksgiving Day debut.
The first two episodes of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” will be available on Paramount+ beginning Nov. 24, the streamer announced Wednesday.
The series will continue and expand the franchise for streaming audiences, blending serialized elements into its format. CBS’ original “Criminal Minds” series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the best of the best who profiled the worst of the worst.
In “Criminal Minds: Evolution,” 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. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time. Original cast members reprising their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster.
Additionally, the series has added Zach Gilford (“Friday Night Lights”) as a recurring guest star in a season-long arc. Gilford will play Elias Voit, an operations analyst for a global cyber-security firm who has a dark side and obsession with death.
“Criminal Minds: Evolution” is produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios. Erica Messer, who worked on both “Criminal Minds” and spinoff “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,” serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer.
Breen Frazier and Christopher Barbour will serve as writers and executive producers, while Glenn Kershaw will direct and executive produce and Mark Gordon will also serve as executive producer.
Following the premiere, new episodes of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” will drop weekly on Thursdays, until its mid-season finale on Thursday, Dec. 15. The season will then return on Thursday, Jan. 12, with all-new episodes dropping weekly through the finale on Thursday, Feb. 9.
