‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’: Aisha Tyler on Getting Into Serial Killers’ Heads & Season 20

“If your comfort food is like a bowl of razor blades, then we are your comfort food,” Criminal Minds: Evolution star Aisha Tyler says.

It’s true. There is something about the show, currently filming its 20th season, that keeps bringing viewers back, even (especially?) as it’s embraced just how dark it can get now that it’s on streaming. (After 15 seasons on CBS, Paramount+ brought Criminal Minds back for this continuation.) When Tyler stopped by TV Insider the day the Season 19 finale dropped (July 23), we discussed the series wrapping up Voit’s (Zach Gilford) arc and why Dr. Tara Lewis is going to miss talking to him, and looked ahead to Season 20, which the cast is currently filming.

Tyler enjoyed getting to, in Season 19, “figure out what makes serial killers tick” through Tara’s conversations with the show’s “Hannibal Lecter,” Voit. “The show is really asking the question — no one wants to forgive him, no one wants to forget what he’s done — are people entirely just their deeds? And if you’ve done some bad things, can you try to make amends for them?” she pointed out. “He’s legitimately trying to make amends. No one can ever make up for what he did, but he is trying in his own way, I think, to make amends. And we’re really also returning to the foundation of what the BAU is, which is to pick the lock of the mind of a serial killer, figure out what makes them tick, and hopefully stop other ones before they start.”

Trae Patton/Paramount+

She continued, “Tara’s like, ‘Listen, I can’t let you rot in here. I got to get some information out of that twisted brain of yours that’s going to help us save lives.'”

However, by the end of the finale, Voit, having covered for his daughter, Holly (Allison Nordahl), killing The Fan (Justin Kirk‘s James Crowley), was being sent off to an undisclosed location, one that means the BAU won’t be continuing to talk to him, and Gilford won’t be part of Season 20. But as Tara said, there’s still a lot they can learn from him.

“The foundation of profiling, the way that the real BAU started was talking to John Wayne Gacy, talking to Bundy, talking to all of these horrible people that did really horrible things, and understanding how they operate. And so for her, I think she will miss it,” Tyler admitted. “Because it’s the foundation of her job. It’s the core of her job, which is understanding the serial killing mind, understanding the sociopath. It’s how she built her career, and we can’t do our jobs without understanding how they work.”

After Season 19 saw Tara really getting into the heads of killers — she figured out The Fan had OCPD, not OCD — that will continue. But we’ll also see, in Season 20, which Tyler called “off the chain,” her doing “some head shrinking” of her friends.

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“[It’s] great,” the star said. “It’s like when you’re dating someone, and they’re like a handyman, and you’re like, ‘You sure you don’t want to get under there and fix my sink?’ They’re like, ‘I thought we were friends.’ I’m like, ‘And a friend would help the friend with the sink.’ So I get to go around and help everybody with their own psychological problems, which I think is actually a gift, a really beautiful thing to be able to do.”

It should surprise no one that Rossi (Joe Mantegna) will be the least receptive. “Rossi’s always fighting everybody,” Tyler laughed. “Rossi’s just gruff. He’s the old grumpster.”

Watch the full video interview above with Aisha Tyler on Seasons 19 and 20, the show’s longevity, and how it’s thriving on streaming, and much more.

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