Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 should be with us in 2024. Here’s everything that we know about the season so far, including who will return.
In some great news, Criminal Minds is coming back. The revival was a huge success with fans, and now we will get a second season of it. Of course, considering the majority of the Season 15 cast returned, it’s more like Season 17 of the OG series.
The show was affected by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. However, with those strikes over, work can start on the show again. Here’s everything we know about Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 so far with updates to come as they happen.
When will Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 premiere?
There isn’t a premiere date for the Paramount+ series just yet, but we are looking at some time in 2024. Production will start on the series in January, and it’s set to be a concise schedule. The aim is to get episodes to fans as soon as possible.
Will we see a mini break in between the season again? That may depend on when the show premieres on Paramount+.
How many episodes are in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2?
The new season will have 10 episodes just like the first season of the revival. There are no plans to change this with the strike action in mind.
Who will return for Season 2 of the Criminal Minds revival?
The main cast from the first season of the revival is set to return. That means we’ll see:
- Joe Mantegna as SSA David Rossi
- Paget Brewster as BAU unit chief Emily Prentiss
- A.J. Cook as SSA Jennifer “JJ” Jareau
- Kirsten Vangsness as tech analyst Penelope Garcia
- Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis
- Adam Rodriguez as SSA Luke Alvez
We also expect to see Zach Gilford return as Elias Voit. He will not be the big UnSub for the team to track down, though. Things are about to change for him now that the secret out.
We also expect to see Ryan-James Hatanaka return as Tyler Green. Fans will remember him as the man suspected as an UnSub working with Elias at first. In the end, he was more of a vigilante trying to get some answers about his sister, and it led to him and Garcia forming a bond.
Considering how important JJ’s family is to the show, we will also see Josh Stewart, Mekhai Andersen, and Phoenix Andersen return to the series. They are in recurring roles rather than as main characters. Will faced a health scare during the first season of the revival, but it turned out that he didn’t have cancer. The two promised to be more open about when they were walking into dangerous situations, but JJ didn’t hold up that end of the bargain at one point. Will that come back to haunt her?
Will other BAU members return to the series?
There are a lot of questions about former members of the BAU returning. This is unlikely for any of them as they are all involved in other projects. However, should schedules open up, showrunner Erica Messer has made it clear that she would love to have many of them back.
What to expect in the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution
The first season ended with a major cliffhanger. Elias had been caught and was left in an interrogation room waiting to share everything that he knows about a secret project called “Gold Star.” He will work with the BAU to capture those involved in Gold Star. Of course, he’s going to want something in return for his help.
The season is set to be a mixture of serialized and procedural storylines. This sounds similar to the 15th season of the OG series where there was a big UnSub to capture but a lot of individual cases in the middle of it all.
Criminal Minds: Evolution is available to stream on Paramount+.