Fans of perp-hunting before dawn and cyber-sleuthing with a cup of coffee (stirred with one finger, not two) after dark may get to head back to Quantico after all, as there’s been an exciting new update about the Criminal Minds revival. Created and produced by Jeff Davis, the CBS Studios procedural series Criminal Minds about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) wrapped in 2020. After a successful 15-year-run on-air catching serial killers and unsuccessful run off-air catching flack for not being on-air, the series found new life thanks to a pandemic-era increase in streaming numbers due to fans binge-watching old seasons of the show. According to Nielsen Reports, the quarantine correlated with Criminal Minds being the third most-watched show on Netflix, clocking 35 billion streaming minutes in 2021, which led to an announcement that the crime drama is getting a reboot.
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In February 2021, Criminal Minds officially received the green light for a 10-episode anthology at Paramount+, with former showrunner Erica Messer and several of the original cast members set to return for the series revival. At the time, Paramount+ also ordered a true-crime docuseries, titled The Real Criminal Minds, which is inspired by the show. But six months ago, after confirming Paramount+ had approached the former BAU agents to join the possible reboot, Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss actress Paget Brewster set fans up for heartbreak by tweeting that the new series was “dead.”
Criminal Minds Is Not Dead
CBS
Even the BAU and its special agents get it wrong, well, sometimes. Criminal Minds will be returning for ten new crime-solving episodes, despite the previous speculation from the series’ alum Brewster that the project was dead. In July, Brewster, who starred as Special Agent Prentiss on and off during the show’s original 15-season run, told a fan on Twitter, “Sadly, we think it’s dead. I’ll let you know if there is any progress, but it seems unlikely. Which is a bummer.”
But then something unexpected happened during Paramount+’s Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. And a surprising twist is good if the show the TV executive is talking about is a crime procedural, because, let’s be honest, how often does that happen anymore with crime procedurals? Paramount+ network executives confirmed that the Criminal Minds revival is alive and kicking at the studio. Tanya Gills, Paramount+’s Chief Programming Officer, said:
We are still very much in development on ‘Criminal Minds.’ We’ll have more to share soon on that, but it is alive and well.
Following the panel, Nicole Clemens, Paramount+’s President for Original Scripted Series, spoke to Variety specifically about the show’s status. Clemens specifically addressed Brewster’s social media comment. Still, she was unable to speculate why the actress said the revival was “dead,” unless the Community alum was just pulling Snuffles’ leg (Brewster is known for her humorous romp at Greendale Community College in addition to her time as a psychopath-catching agent at Quantico).
When asked about Brewster’s social media comments, Clemens told Variety:
I can’t comment on why Paget said that [it was ‘dead’], but these things ebb and flow. As I mentioned, I came in the summer and so it took a second to gear up and figure out, ‘What are we doing? ‘There’s not a hidden monster under the water there. It’s just been in its process, so it’s in development… We have always thought it’s a fantastic idea to have ‘Criminal Minds’ on the service, so that hasn’t changed.
As for the next steps, “We are still in development, so coming soon would be closing up all the deals and getting material. So we have time to go,” Clemens said.
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About The Author
Rebecca Kaplan
(41 Articles Published)
Rebecca Kaplan (she/he) has a JD and an MS but believes comics do more good than law. His work can be found at Prism Comics, MovieWeb, Geek Girl Authority, PanelxPanel, StarTrek.com and Comics Bookcase, and in Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority, which she co-authored with his wife, Avery Kaplan.
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