Criminal Minds: Evolution - What We Know So Far

Fans of the CBS mystery series "Criminal Minds" enjoyed a long, 15-season run before the series came to an end in 2020, but that doesn't mean that they aren't clamoring for more. So it's good news indeed that the Paramount+ streaming platform will soon premiere a revival of the show, now titled "Criminal Minds: Evolution" in its spiffy new incarnation.

Information about the show is still relatively scarce, but we do have a fair amount of details on what to expect from "Evolution," as well as some intriguing casting developments that should please fans of the series from way back. It also appears that the show will seek to satisfy newcomers to the "Criminal Minds" franchise as well with fresh faces.

If you're psyched to see the "Criminal Minds" team get back into the business of busting serial killers on a weekly basis, you only have a bit longer to wait until "Criminal Minds: Evolution" hits Paramont+. In the meantime, here's everything we know about the show so far.

Variety reports that actor Zach Gilford, possibly best known as Matt Saracen on all five seasons of the series "Friday Night Lights," has signed on to appear prominently on "Criminal Minds: Evolution" in a recurring guest star capacity. Gilford will reportedly portray Elias Voit, "an operations analyst for a global cyber-security firm who has a dark side and an obsession with death," per Variety.

Gilford is also known for his work on NBC's "Good Girls" and Netflix's "Midnight Mass." He's also set to reteam with "Midnight Mass" director Mike Flanagan for the upcoming Netflix Edgar Allan Poe adaptation "The Fall of the House of Usher" — so he's certainly no stranger to the macabre.

In what is certainly welcome news for "Criminal Minds" fans, virtually everyone who was part of the show's main cast as of its final season is set to return for the new series, including Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster.

As befitting its snazzy new title and streaming home, "Criminal Minds: Evolution" will not be a simple rehash of the CBS procedural formula. The Hollywood Reporter has the news that while the original "Criminal Minds" largely stuck to a murder-of-the-week format, "Evolution" will be more serialized with a single storyline stretched out over the course of the season.

And that storyline will be pretty interesting, according to the show's advance logline: "the FBI's elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time."

The pandemic angle should give "Criminal Minds: Evolution" a somewhat unique feel, especially as most TV procedurals have allowed themselves to continue in a world where the pandemic either doesn't exist or has mostly faded into the background.

All will be revealed sooner rather than later, as "Criminal Minds: Evolution" is reportedly scheduled to hit Paramount+ sometime this fall.