“Criminal Minds: Evolution” has been ordered for a second season by Paramount+.
The streaming service announced Thursday that the renewal of the Joe Mantegna-helmed series comes after it’s become one of its top five original series and “has driven the overall franchise to see an increase of nearly six times in month-over-month viewership.”
The 10-episode current season premiered on Thanksgiving 2022 with most of the original cast members reprising the roles they performed when the procedural aired on CBS from 2005-2020. A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster all returned. They comprise an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country’s most twisted criminal minds and anticipate their next moves.
“The Midnight Club” alum Zach Gilford also joined the cast in Season 1 as a recurring guest star. His season-long arc was one of the tweaks in the streaming version that has blended serialized elements into the series format compared to the original.
Following a mid-season finale on Dec. 15, the series resumes with new episodes Thursday, Paramount + said. Mantegna tweeted a teaser Wednesday posing behind a cutout of a younger version of himself and telling fans who haven’t seen the first five episodes, “You’ve got some catching up to do.”
The remaining episodes will drop weekly on the streaming platform, with the season finale available to stream Feb. 9.
Season 2 of “Evolution” is expected to start production later this year, but Paramount+ did not say when filming would start or how many episodes the new season will include.
“We’re thrilled to bring even more twisted storylines to our loyal fans of ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution,’ with the order of another season,” said Tanya Giles, chief programming officer of Paramount Streaming, in a statement. “The series has always been a consistent top performer for Paramount+ and fans have quickly embraced this new season with its more serialized elements. There are still many dark twists and turns yet to come for the BAU this season and we can’t wait for fans to see what’s in store.”
The reboot is produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios.
Erica Messer (“Criminal Minds,” “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders”) serves as showrunner and executive producer, with Breen Frazier, Chris Barbour, Glenn Kershaw and Mark Gordon also executive producing.
The original series, created by Jeff Davis, was one of CBS’ longest-running series and led to two spinoffs, “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” and “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior,” which were far less successful than the original.
