Criminal Minds

*Criminal Minds* premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. Created by Jeff Davis, the series follows the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), based in Quantico, Virginia. Rather than focusing chiefly on forensic evidence, its investigators study offenders’ behavior to help identify and locate them. Cases regularly take the team across the United States, where they work with local police and refer to unidentified perpetrators as “unsubs.”

The original team included senior profiler Jason Gideon, played by Mandy Patinkin, and unit chief Aaron Hotchner, played by Thomas Gibson. Shemar Moore portrayed Derek Morgan; Matthew Gray Gubler played Dr. Spencer Reid; A.J. Cook played Jennifer “JJ” Jareau; and Lola Glaudini played Elle Greenaway. Kirsten Vangsness portrayed technical analyst Penelope Garcia, whose computer work supported investigations from Quantico. Paget Brewster joined as Emily Prentiss during the second season, after Greenaway’s departure. When Gideon left early in season three, Joe Mantegna joined as veteran profiler David Rossi.

The show’s long-running cases often had lasting consequences for its characters. In the season-five episode “100,” serial killer George Foyet murders Hotchner’s former wife, Haley, before Hotchner confronts and kills him. “Revelations,” a second-season episode, centers on Reid’s abduction by Tobias Hankel and begins a storyline involving Reid’s use of Dilaudid. Later, Aubrey Plaza appeared as contract killer Cat Adams, first facing Reid in the season-eleven episode “Entropy.”

The cast and team changed substantially over the original run. JJ, initially the BAU’s communications liaison, later trained as a profiler. Moore’s Morgan departed in season eleven, and Adam Rodriguez joined as former fugitive-task-force agent Luke Alvez in season twelve. Aisha Tyler appeared as forensic psychologist Tara Lewis, while Daniel Henney joined the main series as Matt Simmons after playing the character in the spin-off *Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders*.

CBS ended the original series after 15 seasons, with its finale airing on February 19, 2020. It subsequently returned on Paramount+ as *Criminal Minds: Evolution*, which premiered in November 2022. Its first season-long investigation follows a network of serial killers organized by Elias Voit, also known as Sicarius, played by Zach Gilford. Returning performers included Mantegna, Brewster, Cook and Vangsness. The revival shifted from the original show’s predominantly case-by-case format toward a more continuous investigation, while keeping the BAU and its established characters at the center of the story.