‘Criminal Minds’ Revival Gets ‘Evolution’ Title, Adds Zach Gilford as Analyst With a Dark Side

Zach Gilford
Rich Polk/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Television/Spectrum Originals

If you loved Zach Gilford in Friday Night Lights, be prepared to see a very different side of him in the upcoming Criminal Minds revival on Paramount+.

The streaming service has announced that Gilford will recur in a season-long arc on the new series, now titled Criminal Minds: Evolution, which will premiere this fall. Gilford will play Elias Voit, an operations analyst for a global cyber-security firm who has a dark side and obsession with death.

Criminal Minds: Evolution sees the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) going up against their greatest threat yet: an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time. Original cast members reprising their roles include Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), A.J. Cook (Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau), Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia), Aisha Tyler (Dr. Tara Lewis), Adam Rodriguez (Luke Alvez), and Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss).

The series is produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios. Erica Messer serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Breen Frazier and Christopher Barbour will serve as writers and executive producers, Glenn Kershaw will direct and executive produce, and Mark Gordon will also serve as executive producer.

The original Criminal Minds ran 15 seasons from 2005-2020. It was just one year after the series finale that this revival was announced.

In addition to the aforementioned Friday Night Lights, Gilford’s TV credits also include Midnight MassGood Girls, and This Close.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Premiere, Fall 2022, Paramount+