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Criminal Minds: Evolution to End With Season 20 on Paramount+
· Confirmed
In Short: Paramount+ and Showrunner Erica Messer announced that 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' will conclude with its 20th season in 2027.
The series, which originally ran for 15 seasons on CBS before being revived on Paramount+ in 2022, will end its run after five seasons on the streaming platform.
Showrunner Erica Messer expressed gratitude for the cast, writers, directors, and crew who have contributed to the show's success over two decades.
Messer stated, 'It's hard to put into words what Criminal Minds has meant to all of us who have been fortunate enough to be part of this extraordinary journey.'
The upcoming season will feature guest stars such as Connor Storrie, Justin Kirk, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Clark Gregg.
The final season, which has already wrapped production, will premiere in 2027, marking the end of the series' run.
The decision to end the series was made recently under Paramount+'s new leadership team.
The series has garnered critical acclaim, with Season 16 receiving an 85% critical 'Fresh' rating and a 78% audience-generated 'Popcornmeter' score via Rotten Tomatoes.
The show's revival on Paramount+ has allowed for a deeper character development and a more serialized structure, enhancing the fan experience.
Despite the series' conclusion, the legacy of 'Criminal Minds' will continue to be celebrated by its dedicated fan base.
The final season will bring closure to the BAU's cases and provide a fitting end to the series' journey.
Fans can look forward to the first-look photos released by Paramount+ as the series prepares for its final run.
What this adds
The series first hit CBS in 2005, running for 15 seasons and more than 300 episodes before ending in February 2020.
Paramount+ revived the show as 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' in November 2022, with shorter 10-episode seasons built on longer story arcs.
The final season has already wrapped production, potentially leaving the series without a planned series finale.
The decision to end the series was made on the recommendation of the previous regime, which had granted an early renewal in March ahead of Season 19.
Background
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
What's confirmed
- Posted in: Paramount+, TV | Tagged: Criminal Minds, criminal minds: evolution Paramount+ and Showrunner Erica Messer's Criminal Minds: Evolution will be ending its run in 2027 with its upcoming 20th season.
- "It's hard to put into words what 'Criminal Minds' has meant to all of us who have been fortunate enough to be part of this extraordinary journey, first on CBS for 15 seasons and then on Paramount+ for five," shared showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer in a statement.
- "While suddenly navigating the end of this chapter, I'm filled with gratitude for our remarkable cast, writers, directors, and crew who have poured their hearts into this show, and for the incredible fans around the world whose unwavering loyalty has kept 'Criminal Minds' going for two decades. We're looking forward to sharing season 20 with everyone, and celebrating the legacy of this special show we've all built together."
- The Paramount+ series is produced by 20th Television and CBS Studios.
- Paramount+ and Showrunner Erica Messer 's Criminal Minds: Evolution will be wrapping up its caseload with the upcoming 20th season, with the streamer announcing on Friday that the 2027-debuting Season 20 will be the long-running procedural's final run.
- Criminal Minds: Evolution is ending with its 20th season (overall and fifth for the continuation on Paramount+ after ending its 15-year run on CBS).
- The new episodes will premiere in 2027, and Paramount+ has released the first photos from the new season, which you can check out above and below.
- According to an exclusive from Deadline, the decision was made recently and marks the first official cancellation under Paramount+’s new leadership team.
- Paramount has just merged with Warner Bros. in the new Skydance, and changes are coming.
- Beyond bringing back fan-favorite characters, the serialized structure afforded that same cast a greater depth of development than what the original Criminal Minds could provide.
What's still developing
- After discovering a second storage container and the remains of Moose the dog, who Voit stole from a girl he met at a hardware store earlier in the season, Rossi finally puts together the pieces.
- The season is set to premiere in 2027, though no date has been announced, and the network shared first-look photos alongside the news.
- Sources told the outlet that the call came on the recommendation of the previous regime, which had granted an early renewal in March ahead of Season 19.
- The series first hit CBS in 2005, running 15 seasons and more than 300 episodes before ending in February 2020.
- Paramount+ revived the show as ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’, with Season 16 premiering in November 2022, bringing back the Behavioral Analysis Unit for shorter 10-episode seasons built on longer story arcs.
- Few procedurals have lasted as long as ‘ Criminal Minds’.
- The new format gave the franchise a fresh identity, and the streaming run has since stretched across 5 seasons.
- The final season also wrapped production earlier this fall, so it wasn’t written as a planned series finale.
- Criminal Minds is ending its run (for now) across two incarnations on two platforms.
- So, despite one fun conversation in the bullpen and a delightfully-unimpressed Fin’s trip to see a psychic with Rollins, we know from the start that this isn’t going to be a case of teasing a possible supernatural element and/or trying to open any skeptics’ minds.
- Throughout this season, Crowley has been building toward reaching Voit after praising his work and trying to get his attention.
- The serial killer trackers of Criminal Minds : Evolution are set to work their final cases.