Criminal Minds season 17: Everything we know so far

Criminal Minds is returning with a brand-new season as it was confirmed by CBS back in January 2023. The popular police procedural crime drama originally aired on CBS from 2005 till 2020. Fans were delighted when it was announced that the series would be back in 2022.

Titled Criminal Minds: Evolution, the series returned exclusively on Paramount+ on November 24, 2022. This marked the 16th season of the series (or the first season of the newly-titled Criminal Minds: Evolution). Season 17 was announced when the sixth episode of the previous season premiered on January 12, 2023.

Season 17 was supposed to start its production in April 2023. However, the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed it. As per Paget Brewster (who plays Special Agent Emily Prentiss in the series), the production for the upcoming season kickstarted in January 2024. It was also confirmed through an Instagram post on the official Paramount+ account.

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Criminal Minds season 17: What to expect from the upcoming season?

There has been no official release date for the new season of the show posted by CBS. As per TVLine, showrunner Erica Messer confirmed back in January 2023 that the new season would follow a 10-episode schedule like its predecessor.

Criminal Minds follows a group of highly skilled officers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). The 2022 reboot of the series, Criminal Minds: Evolution, departed from the earlier seasons and followed one complicated case rather than presenting a new case every episode. It is expected that the new season will follow the same style.

Actors Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Josh Stewart will return for season 17, reprising their roles. The official synopsis of the series as per Paramount+ reads:

"The series follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject)."

A detailed look at the team is also provided in the synopsis as it further reads:

"The team is supervised by Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. The team included Jason Gideon, the founder of the BAU, Derek Morgan, an ex-Chicago Police officer who is an expert on obsessional crimes, Spencer Reid, an expert on geographic profiling, Jennifer Jareau (JJ), the team's communications liaison, Elle Greenway, an expert on s*x crimes, David Rossi, one of the original BAU agents who is also an expert in criminal profiling, Ashley Seaver, a rookie FBI agent, Alex Blake, a linguistics specialist, Kate Callahan, a seasoned undercover agent, and Tara Lewis, a forensic psychologist."

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Will Elias Voit return as the antagonist in season 17 of Criminal Minds?

Criminal Minds: Evolution introduced the mastermind criminal Elias Voit (played by Zach Gilford). He set up a serial killer network during the pandemic and caused havoc before finally being outsmarted and arrested in the season finale of the previous season.

However, his story is not yet over as showrunner Erica Messer claimed that viewers have "not seen the last of Elias." She also stated that she envisions him to be similar to a Hannibal Lecter character for the series.

However, it is not confirmed whether Voit will return in the upcoming season or if he is set to feature in later seasons. The major plotline of season 17 is still under wraps and it can be expected that the new season will premiere on Paramount+ later this year.

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Criminal Minds: Evolution is currently available for streaming on Paramount+.