Criminal Minds: Evolution scores an early Season 3 renewal

We are a day away from Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 premiering, and we already have great news. It will not be the end for the BAU.

Paramount+ has confirmed that Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 will happen, according to TVLine. Considering the revival hasn’t seen much of a change to the cast, we can pretty much view this as Criminal Minds Season 18.

Who will return in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3?

We have so few details about the season, though. One of the problems with an early renewal is that we have no idea what the plot could be. We need to wait for the Season 2 finale to see that, and that means waiting until August.

Could the BAU end up a team member down? That would usually seem unlikely, but don’t shows need to keep the stakes high now and then? What we would love to see is a character returning. Schedules haven’t aligned for some, but maybe the third season will allow for that. We’re looking for Spencer for sure, but there are a few others we would love to see return to help out on a case or two.

Production will start later this year

What we do know is that production on Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 will start later this year. The aim is to keep the wait for the season as short as possible.

The wait for Season 2 was unavoidable. It all came down to the strike action during the summer. The cast got to work as soon as they could after that, and it’s led to a summer release—we had hoped for fall last year. With production starting up later this year, we could see a summer 2025 release for Season 3.

There’s no word on episode count just yet, but we’re expecting 10 episodes. That would match the first two seasons of the revival. It’s a great number to allow for a serialized format while having time for some cases of the week now and then.