‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Star on His Exit: ‘There Wasn’t Really Anywhere Else to Go’

There’s going to be a bit of a rest when Criminal Minds: Evolution returns for Season 20, with a major part of the series not returning after the July 23 finale. TV Insider spoke with the star about how the drama wrote out that character. Warning: Spoilers for the Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 finale ahead!

Voit’s (Zach Gilford) face-off with The Fan (Justin Kirk‘s James Crowley) ends with the latter dead — at the hands of the former’s daughter, Holly (Allison Nordahl), to save her dad. He claimed to be the one to kill The Fan, and now, he’s being sent to an undisclosed high-security federal penitentiary, and the BAU is more than happy to close the book on him.

Below, Zach Gilford breaks down his exit from the Paramount+ drama and shares if he’d return in the future.

The season was so good, you were so good, but I am sorry to see Voit go, that he’s off to somewhere we will not see him again.

Zach Gilford: He’s off to the hole.

So it does seem. So we’ve said goodbye to Voit, at least for now, but he is still alive. He can still come back. So how is it for you to say goodbye to this character you’ve played for four seasons?

Saying goodbye to the character is whatever. It’s really saying goodbye to the cast and the crew and everyone. TV is so special because I always say movies are like summer camp, and TV is like college, and you go and you get to know everyone so well, and it’s such a family. So, it’s sad to say bye to everyone, but I do have a lot of friendships that are lasting, and I’m still hanging out and talking to people.

Michael Yarish / Paramount+

The character, I think we mutually went into last season knowing there wasn’t really anywhere else to go. You can’t have Voit be a part of the BAU officially, and he can only do so much. I think we just knew and it was only supposed to be one season, it turned into four, and we got to do a lot of fun, cool stuff. And I feel like each season was a different side of this character. And I think we just really fleshed him out, and for the sake of the show and the character. I wouldn’t want to keep doing him just to be analyzing tech stuff. It just would be a waste. So it’s bittersweet, but I think it was cool to go out the way that I did, and saving his daughter, which I think is a really cool full circle because at the beginning of his arc in Season 1, he really wants to be a good dad, and he thinks that’s his way to redeem himself. And ultimately, his character ends by saving his daughter and being a good dad in spite of everything he’s done.

Speaking of that, how worried is he that his daughter might become like him after what she did?

I think it’s something that he’s been worried about forever. I do think, as shocking as it is to see her kill The Fan or whatever, I think he can rationalize it enough to where it’s situational. It’s not like she has this need to hurt people, and she’s never really shown those tendencies. I think he just doesn’t want her to have to live with — I think what’s heartbreaking to him is now she has to live with having taken someone’s life and all the questions and guilt and everything that will come up for her. And so it’s just kind of feeling like he failed as a dad.

That’s sad. How was shooting that last hallucination Voit and Rossi (Joe Mantegna) scene, the farewell of sorts, given the different dynamics you and Joe played over the years as the real versions of your characters, each character having hallucination versions of each other?

I mean, it was such a quick, short little scene, so it was fun. It’s always fun working with Joe, and it is weird because that was not the last scene I shot. So, it’s kind of funny when you’re like, “This is the last thing people are going to see of me, but I got to come back in two days and do this big fight scene.” But it was my last time with Joe, so it was definitely sad because I got to work with him so much over the years, and I’ve looked up to him before I even met him, and he’s like a role model. He’s just such a good example of how to be as a person, as an actor. He’s just such a great guy. So what was on the page was pretty simple and clear as to what it was supposed to be, but it was really the life stuff behind it that kind of made it a little sad.

The way they just kept switching up that dynamic because it was like, who’s real in this scene? Who’s not real?

It was so fun. I think this season having Joe be the one in my head, because that voice in our head is the hardest on us. And I think it’s so interesting that the person who he manifests to be the hardest on him is Rossi. And I think it’s someone who he actually respects and wants their, not admiration, but wants his respect. It’s such a complicated, messy dynamic. And then I know it was fun for Joe to get to play the voice in my head because he would get to antagonize me and just be kind of nasty to me, which is like, for three years, he’s had to have me just be nasty to him.

Michael Yarish / Paramount+

It felt like there was never a world in which both Voit and The Fan survived that finale showdown, especially once Holly was taken. But could the person Voit had become killed James as easily as he once had if it hadn’t been in the heat of a fight?

I don’t think so. I mean, they make it clear when he grabs handcuffs instead of a knife or whatever, he doesn’t want to kill anyone. There’s no need to kill him. And I think he wants him to be captured and go away. So I thought that was another really good way to show the evolution of Voit because I don’t think he wants to hurt anyone. I think he’s done with that, and I think he feels guilty about it.

We kept hearing all season what Voit thought of The Fan, but then he did finally come face-to-face with him in prison — which, by the way, you and Justin Kirk, those scenes were so good.

That’s all Justin.

You were amazing in them, too. In the end, what did Voit think of The Fan?

I think Voit kind of felt like, “Man, people are f**ked up.’ Voit’s come to this place where he’s like, “Everything I’ve done is so wrong.” And this season, he’s kind of reckoning with — Season 3 was dealing with all the pain he’s caused so many people and their families. And Season 4 is like, “Oh, it’s not just that. There’s this butterfly effect of it, and there’s so many sickos in the world. Now I’ve inspired sociopaths to do even more bad.” And it’s coming face-to-face with someone like that and just seeing it, like, “Man, I caused this. Even this is my fault.” And it’s a lot for him. It sounds silly or simple, but I think he’s just sad.

Voit is alive, which means that you could come back. Would you want to?

Oh, I would go back in a heartbeat if it made sense. I don’t want to sit in the tech room with Penelope [Kirsten Vangsness] and analyze files. But yeah, clearly the BAU can’t solve a single crime without my help. So I’m hoping Season 20 is like, they don’t solve anything, and they’re like, “We got to go get that guy back because we can’t do this.” [Laughs.]

You said what you wouldn’t want to do. So, what would you want to do as Voit? Is there anything with this character you’d like to explore or anyone you’d like to work with more that you didn’t get a chance to as much?

I mean, honestly, I would work with any one of those characters. I love them. I mean, I’ve become friends with all… One of the really fun things about the show was, Voit had such a different relationship with each one of them. If I had to pick one person, it would probably be Paget [Brewster]. I had one scene with her at one point, and I was just like, “Oh my God, she’s so good.” They’re all so good, but there’s something… Paget is like an American treasure. I don’t know how she does it. And when I directed Season 2, I remember I would do scenes with her, and I’d just be like, “I don’t know how she made that so compelling.” She’s just giving us information about her murder. And I’m like, “Say more. Say more.” I love everyone. There’s just something about Paget I’m fascinated by. So if I had to pick one person, it would be Paget.

Related

'Criminal Minds: Evolution' Is Returning for Season 20: Everything We Know So Far

How does Voit feel about where he ended up, and how would the first season of Voit feel about where he ended up?

I think Voit is just so willing to pay penance or take whatever punishment. I don’t think he is trying to martyr himself. I think he just really feels like he deserves to be punished. I think Season 1 Voit would be figuring out a way to get out of there. He’d have some sort of scheme. But yeah, I think now Voit, I mean, I honestly think he wants to be put to death, but I think he can rationalize it where it’s like, this is actually better because he deserves to be in as much emotional pain as possible.

And that says it all about how much Voit has changed because I never could imagine that. Even the phone call we got between Voit and Rossi in the finale, I never would’ve imagined that phone call with Rossi being like, “Don’t do this.”

Yeah. It just was such a fun, cool character to play, and I feel all the relationships were earned and they weren’t contrived. And it really speaks to that, nothing’s black and white. People aren’t black and white, and it’s all complicated. It’s all messy, and we all do bad things. We all do good things. Obviously, Voit does very bad things, but I heard something once on some podcast I was listening to, and it was about criminals or something, and it was like everybody was a little boy once or a little girl. We all were innocent at one point, and no one’s truly evil. It’s so much just circumstance and how we got where we got. And so I don’t know, I think there’s humanity in all of us, even the most vile people. At one point, we were innocent. I don’t know. And I think we kind of got there with Voit, and it doesn’t redeem him. It just is like, he’s not an evil person at his core.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Season 20, TBA, Paramount+