The sixteenth season of the American

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...

'', subtitled ''Evolution'', follows members of the

Behavioral Analysis Unit The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. The mission of the NCAVC a ...

(BAU) as they are faced with a network of serial killers built during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It is a revival of the 2005 television series, which ended in 2020. The season premiered on November 24, 2022 on

Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

in the U.S. and on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

in other regions on November 25, 2022. In January 2023, ''Evolution'' was renewed for another season.

Cast

Main

Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jeffe ...

David Rossi David Stephen Rossi is a fictional character in the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'', portrayed by Joe Mantegna. He is a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and has appeared from the episode "About Face", which was o ...

AJ Cook Andrea Joy Cook (born July 22, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2020, 2022). Cook has also appeared ...

as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau *

Kirsten Vangsness Kirsten Simone Vangsness (born July 7, 1972) is an American actress and writer. She is best known for her portrayal of FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia on the CBS drama series ''Criminal Minds''. She portrayed the same character on the sp ...

Penelope Garcia Penelope Grace Garcia is a fictional character portrayed by Kirsten Vangsness on the CBS crime dramas ''Criminal Minds'' and its short-lived spin-off '' Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior''. She is the technical analyst of the Behavioral Analysis ...

Aisha Tyler Aisha Nilaja Tyler (born September 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, director, and talk show host. She is known for playing Andrea Marino in the first season of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Tara Lewis (Criminal Minds), Dr. Tara Lewis in ''Crimi ...

as Dr. Tara Lewis *

Adam Rodriguez Adam Michael Rodriguez (born April 2, 1975)"Adam Rodriguez" (2006). ''Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television''. Vol. 71. Detroit: Gale. Accessed via ''Biography in Context'' database, August 7, 2016. is an American actor, screenwriter and ...

Luke Alvez Luke Alvez is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'', portrayed by Adam Rodríguez. Background and characterization Alvez was born in the Bronx, New York. Inspired by his father's military service, he joined the U.S. Ar ...

Paget Brewster Paget Valerie Brewster (, ; born March 10, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She was first recognized for her recurring role as Kathy on the fourth season of the NBC sitcom ''Friends''. Her breakthrough role came as FBI Supervisory Specia ...

Emily Prentiss Emily Prentiss is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'', portrayed by Paget Brewster. Prentiss first appeared in "The Last Word" (episode nine of season two), replacing Agent Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini), who had quit i ...

Recurring

Zach Gilford Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series ''Midnight Mass''. In 2022, ...

as Elias Voit *

Josh Stewart Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Holt McLaren in the FX TV series ''Dirt'' and as Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., on the CBS series ''Criminal Minds''. He was also cast as ...

as Will LaMontagne Jr. *

Nicholas D'Agosto Nicholas D'Agosto (born April 17, 1980) is an American actor, best known for featuring in ''Final Destination 5'', ''Heroes'' and ''The Office''. He starred in the Showtime series ''Masters of Sex'' and the Fox series '' Gotham''. Early life ...

as Deputy Director Doug Bailey * Nicole Pacent as Rebecca Wilson * Ryan-James Hatanaka as Tyler Green *

Kiele Sanchez Kiele Michelle Sanchez ( ; born October 13, 1977) is an American actress who starred in the A&E Network drama '' The Glades''. Previously, she had starred as Anne Sorelli in The WB comedy-drama ''Related'' and as Nikki Fernandez on the main cast ...

as Sydney Voit

Guests

Gail O'Grady Gail Ann O'Grady (born January 23, 1963), an American actress and producer, is best known for her roles on television. Her roles include Donna Abandando in the ABC police drama ''NYPD Blue'', and Helen Pryor in the NBC drama series ''American Drea ...

as Krystall Rossi *

Luke Benward Luke Aaron Benward (born May 12, 1995) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Will in the Disney film '' Cloud 9'' (2014). His first starring role was Billy Forrester in ''How to Eat Fried Worms'' (2006), and as Char ...

as Benjamin Reeves * Silas Weir Mitchell as Cyrus Lebrun

Episodes

Production

Development

In February 2021, a revival series and the sixteenth season of ''Criminal Minds'' was announced to be in early development at

with 10 episodes planned. In February 2022, the series was confirmed to be still in development. Paramount+ officially gave a series order in July 2022. The official title of the new series was revealed in September 2022.

Casting

Most of the main cast of the last season of the previous series returned, with the exception of

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, filmmaker, fashion model, painter, illustrator, director, and author. He is best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal Min ...

and

Daniel Henney Daniel Phillip Henney (born November 28, 1979) is an American actor and model. He first came into international prominence with his television debut as Dr. Henry Kim on the Korean drama ''My Lovely Sam Soon'' (2005). He has gone on to star in f ...

. On September 4, 2022,

confirmed he would reprise his role as Will LaMontagne Jr. On September 9, 2022,

was cast in a recurring role.

Filming

Filming began in August 2022. In September 2022, Joe Mantegna announced that he would be directing an episode this season. Later that month, it was confirmed that

A. J. Cook Andrea Joy Cook (born July 22, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2020, 2022). Cook has also appeared in ''The Virgin ...

and

would also be directing episodes this season.

References

{{Criminal Minds Criminal Minds 2022 American television seasons 2023 American television seasons