Following the announcement of the cancellation of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” at Paramount+, stars AJ Cook, Paget Brewster, Kirsten Vangsness and more are returning to the 20th season of the crime drama.
The announcement seems to have come at the perfect time to mourn a TV show, as Cook chose to mark the end of this episode of “Criminal Minds” with a photo of herself dressed up for Halloween, carrying a headstone for Jennifer Jareau, the special agent she has played since the debut of “Criminal Minds” in 2005. (Jareau, also known as JJ, was the BAU’s media/police liaison before becoming a profiler in later seasons.) captioned the snap, “Rest in peace JJ (for now) #criminalminds #halloween #stillprocessing.”
Brewster, who has played FBI Surveillance Special Agent Emily Prentiss since season 2 of “Criminal Minds,” shared a black-and-white photo with the text “Free Agent.” RJ Hatanaka also kept his tribute short and sweet, sharing a photo of the cast with the caption “Just the best group of people.” Hatanaka, who played FBI agent Tyler Green, joined the series in season 16.
“Social media is kind of like doing your own press conference, I guess. It happened. It gets canceled, but then it says it ends ‘for now,'” Vangsness said in a video shared on Instagram. The actress, who played Penelope Garcia, a technical analyst beloved in part for her relationship with agent Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) when the series first aired, has played the character since season 1.
She continued, “You know the part in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ where Charlie gets the chocolate, and it’s a little bittersweet. He says, ‘Thank you so much for the chocolate.’ Look how long that never happens,'” she continued, referring to the show’s 20th season. “But I love my job and my boss, Erica Messer, says there are so many more stories to tell. So if we can continue to tell them somewhere, that would be amazing. I know we all feel the same way.”
In the video’s caption, she wrote that her “heart is fireworks in thanks for my time on this job @criminalminds and my cohorts at the fake murder camp @pagetpagetgram @ajcook @aishatyler @rjhatanaka @adamrodriguez @joemantegna.” »
News first broke that the long-running procedural would conclude Friday with its 20th season. “Evolution,” which picks up after the events of the original “Criminal Minds,” was initially revived for season 16 in 2022, and continued the series after being renewed for a fifteenth and final season on CBS in January 2019. Season 19 aired between May and July earlier this year. Season 20 will air in 2027.
“Evolution” also stars Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez.
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