‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’: Showrunner Erica Messer On Rossi’s Trauma, Penelope’s Pink Note, And All Those Bonus Expletives

deadline.com:

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot points from the premiere of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+. Executive Producer Erica Messer never did get much of an explanation as to why CBS in 2019 canceled Criminal Minds, its long-running crime procedural that became appointment viewing for millions. “None of us wanted it to end creatively,” she tells Deadline. “We felt there were plenty more stories to tell.

The cast was in such a groove and everybody loved being here.” So when she was asked in the summer of 2020 to bring the show back, Messer wasn’t too worried about whether she could reassemble the BAU. “It all lined up and worked out,” she recalls. “We had four months to shoot 10 episodes and I felt pretty confident we could gather our troops for that.” Here, Messer talks about the show’s premiere on Paramount+, why she cast Zach Gilford as this season’s villain, and whether we’ll ever learn the contents of Penelope’s pink note. DEADLINE When did talks begin to revive the show? ERICA MESSER We wrapped in May of 2019.

In February of 2020, the last episode aired on CBS, and then a month later the world shut down. Late summer of 2020 is when I got the call asking if I’d want to do another version of Criminal Minds.

I didn’t want to do another version, like a spinoff version, but I would do it if we could bring it back with our cast. Then about a year later they were able to get deals going and then I’d say by January of 2022 it felt like all the deals were going to happen. DEADLINE It took a long time.