‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Stars Pick Their UnSub Names (VIDEO)

Serial killers tend to get nicknames based on what they do to their victims, and the season-long UnSub on Criminal Minds: Evolution, the Paramount+ revival of the long-running CBS procedural drama, is no different.

The 16th season (with new episodes dropping Thursdays) of the profilers of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) sees the agents hunting down Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) and his network of serial killers. It all started when Dr. Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler) was called to the scene of a storage container; the victims inside were all killed in various ways. And the UnSub, now known as Sicarius, has not repeated himself. But it’s one of his kills that has led to his nickname: The UnSub poured incredibly poisonous Sicarius spiders down a victim’s throat.

And so when TV Insider spoke with the stars of Criminal Minds: Evolution, we asked them what their UnSub names would be if they were serial killers.

“I guess I would be the Phoenix Family Annihilator,” Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) said — and for good reason! “Prentiss keeps coming back from the dead and she will not settle down with anyone. She’s not even dating anyone.”

Kirsten Vangsness (tech genius Penelope Garcia) co-wrote five episodes from the original run and points to the first of them, Season 10’s “Nelson’s Sparrow.” She explained, “I had come up with this name, [Dusky McBirdFace], and I made crew T-shirts,” with a drawing from Matthew Gray Gubler (who played Dr. Spencer Reid and isn’t back in the revival).

A.J. Cook (Jennifer “JJ” Jareau) admitted, “I may have thought about this in the past for no particular reason. I think she would be named Medusa.” She even knows exactly how Medusa would kill her victims!

Watch the full “Just Asking” video above for more from Adam Rodriguez (Luke Alvez), Brewster, Vangsness, and Cook.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+