Erica Messer

Erica Messer is an American television writer and producer whose career is closely tied to *Criminal Minds*. Created by Jeff Davis, the CBS crime drama follows the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit as its members investigate serial crimes. Messer became its showrunner after Ed Bernero’s departure and remained a central creative figure through the series’ original finale in 2020.

Her work on *Criminal Minds* includes the 2015 episode “Nelson’s Sparrow,” which she wrote with cast member Kirsten Vangsness. The episode returns to the history of Jason Gideon, a founding member of the show’s team, and investigates his death. Messer and Vangsness also wrote “And in the End…,” the finale of the original series. Broadcast in February 2020, it brought the show’s fifteenth season and its initial CBS run to a close.

Messer expanded the franchise with *Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders*, which premiered on CBS in 2016. Rather than following the original team’s domestic cases, the spinoff centered on an FBI unit responding to crimes involving Americans overseas. Gary Sinise starred as unit chief Jack Garrett. The series ran for two seasons, ending in 2017. Daniel Henney played agent Matt Simmons on *Beyond Borders* and later joined the cast of the original *Criminal Minds*, connecting the two shows through a continuing character.

The original series did not stay concluded for long. Messer returned as showrunner and executive producer for *Criminal Minds: Evolution*, which premiered on Paramount+ in 2022. The revival reunited several established characters, including Emily Prentiss, played by Paget Brewster, and David Rossi, played by Joe Mantegna. It also changed the storytelling format: where the CBS series generally resolved an investigation within an episode, *Evolution* gave its returning team a season-spanning pursuit of Elias Voit, played by Zach Gilford.

That shift mattered to the franchise’s structure. The team still examined violent offenders through behavioral analysis, but the streaming format allowed one adversary and the consequences of his actions to develop across multiple episodes. It gave Messer a way to continue the original series without simply restarting its weekly case format.

Across the original show, its international spinoff and its streaming revival, Messer’s credits mark several distinct stages in the franchise’s history. She helped guide *Criminal Minds* to its first ending, wrote that finale with Vangsness, developed a separate team for *Beyond Borders*, and then oversaw the continuation that brought familiar BAU agents back to television.