‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Sneak Peek: Justin Kirk Visits Voit in Prison (VIDEO)

This is intriguing. Serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) has had the family members of his victims visit him in prison before in Criminal Minds: Evolution, but there’s something about Justin Kirk‘s in TV Insider’s exclusive sneak peek of the Thursday, July 2, episode that has us thinking what’s to come is going to be so good.

Kirk (The Vampire Lestat) plays “a traveling professor and expert in serial killers [who] Crowley builds an unlikely bond with Elias Voit.” In the clip, he introduces himself to Voit as Joshua Ryan, the cousin of one of his victims, Deena. Voit notes that her mother already visited him (Episode 2 of this season) and had believed what she’d heard on one of the podcasts, including Brian’s (Paul F. Tompkins) spreading lies about the serial killer.

Joshua tells Voit that he’s there on behalf of Deena’s father, Alex; he and her mother are divorced. As he explains, Alex doesn’t think he can trust himself around Voit. But the killer wonders, “Well, if you loved your cousin Deena so much, what makes you think that you trust yourself around me?” According to Joshua, “Nothing can change what you did. Nothing can bring Deena back.” So, why is he there? To hear the gruesome details of his cousin’s suffering and death? Watch the full clip above for Joshua’s answer.

Thursday’s episode is the seventh of 10 of the season. In “The Furies,” Paramount+’s official description teases, “The BAU investigates a string of brutal police officer executions in a border town. Could the killings be cartel-related or something far more personal? The rabbit hole goes deeper when it’s discovered that the department may be harboring dark secrets of their own. Behind prison walls, Voit receives an enigmatic visitor, one who may not be what they seem.”

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What Joshua has to say to Voit at the end of that clip seems to play into what Aisha Tyler said about this season as a whole. She told us that it’s like “OG BAU,” comparing it to Mindhunter. “We were getting into the intricacy of how we do what we do, which is picking apart a serial killer and trying to figure out what makes them tick and trying to use that information to help to save lives,” she said.

This next episode also has to deal with the aftermath of Garcia’s (Kirsten Vangsness) bombshell at the end of Episode 6: She testified, behind closed doors, in support of the theory that Voit was reformed due to brain trauma, resulting in him getting life in prison instead of the death penalty. Rossi (Joe Mantegna), given his history with Voit, was the one to have the most visible reaction.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+