‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’: Gold Star, MIA Agents & More Burning Questions
The good news: We’re getting closer to getting answers to all our burning questions after the Criminal Minds: Evolution finale, with filming slated to begin on the new season in January.
After all, the Paramount+ revival, with just two words, introduced something very mysterious apparently connected to the DOJ that serial killer Elias Voit/Sicarius (Zach Gilford) knows about and set up the end of the episode, in which someone joined the UnSub in an interrogation room. Plus, the futures of a couple of relationships have been left up in the air, and we’re still wondering if we might see a few familiar faces who are said to be on an assignment.
Scroll down as we take a look at the burning questions we need answered when the BAU returns.
Criminal Minds: Evolution, Season 17, TBA, Paramount+
What is Gold Star?
In the finale, Voit killed Bailey (Nicholas D’Agosto), who had insisted on being the one to try to negotiate after the serial killer used the phrase “Gold Star.” What that means is anybody’s guess because everything about it was so cryptic. Because of those two words, Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) told the Attorney General (Monnae Michaell) her legal and extralegal options: let him go (the safest way to keep the matter contained) or an implied order of terminate with extreme prejudice (which would have likely had collateral damage, in the form of Rossi, played by Joe Mantegna, and Voit’s family).
Showrunner Erica Messer couldn’t say much about Gold Star when TV Insider talked to her about the finale in February, though she did stress the significance of Voit using it as a form of negotiation. “Why does he know that? What is it that got our dear beloved deputy director killed? There’s not a whole lot of clues you could look for from previous seasons, but there will be some things that we introduced in Season 16 that will come into play regarding Gold Star for later.”
Who walked into that interrogation room?
The finale ended with Voit brought into an interrogation room and uncuffed before the door opened. Messer remained mum about who that was, though she noted, “Is it somebody we’ve never met before? We’ve never met the director of the FBI, we’ve only met the deputy director. So we have a plan, and we hope the plan works, but we also have a lot of backup ideas that we’re talking about right now that we’re all super excited about.” At the time, the plan was for the Season 17 premiere to begin “with Voit looking at who walked in the door.” We’ll have to wait and see if that remains true.
How much will Zach Gilford be part of the show going forward?
We know that Gilford has to at least return to resolve that interrogation room cliffhanger, but we’re hoping that what Messer said in February remains the case: “We love Zach so much, and we love Elias Voit so much, and we love his family. We’re planning on using him almost the way Hannibal Lecter was used in Silence of the Lambs, that we have this brilliant mind, twisted profiler in custody, and we don’t wanna talk to him. We don’t feel like we need his help, but because of the Gold Star of it all, we’re gonna need to talk to him a little bit more than we ever thought we would.”
We’re already imagining the chilling scenes that would result because of that. And something tells us Voit would have quite some fun with the fact that he knows more than they do about Gold Star, especially if that continues to be true as we get into the season and the profilers have to turn to him.
How much of a threat does Voit's network of serial killers remain?
Just because Voit is in custody doesn’t mean that the serial killers he gathered in his network just go away. They’re still out there, just now without his rules — which we can’t help but think makes them more dangerous. As Messer reminded us, he told a victim he let go in the eighth episode, “You should be worried about your family because if it’s not me who comes after them, it’ll be someone.” That means yes, “that threat is very much alive and will come into play this year.”
Will Reid and Simmons return?
Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney, who played Dr. Spencer Reid and Matt Simmons, respectively, were said to be on assignment in the Season 16 premiere. (Both had still been with the BAU when the original series’ run ended.) Bailey had told Prentiss (Paget Brewster) he wasn’t “at liberty to discuss” specifics and “if and when they return is entirely up to them. Sadly, we don’t have a say.”
Whether we see either of them in Season 17 very much depends on availability, especially since, with only 10-episode seasons, the filming window is much smaller than it used to be for CBS‘s longer orders, according to Messer.
What assignment has been keeping them busy?
Because a return for either or both is up in the air, “I don’t really want to bring up their secret missions because I just don’t want to promise something that we can’t deliver,” Messer explained. That being said, if it were possible to tie their assignments to Gold Star, “that would be a dream,” she added.
Will Garcia and Luke get together?
At the end of the original series finale, it seemed like Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) and Luke (Adam Rodriguez) were about to get together, only for the revival to reveal that things just didn’t work out on their date. In fact, after a rocky start, Garcia and Tyler (Ryan-James Hatanaka), the brother of one of Voit’s victims, hit it off, though, too, ran into obstacles. And it doesn’t seem like Criminal Minds has completely closed the door on Garcia and Luke.
Messer said the plan was for Hatanaka to return. “It’ll be a little more complicated because they’ve had this relationship, and it’s something we haven’t really been able to play on the show before because we always stayed away from team members having relationships beyond like a familial type thing,” she explained, noting it’s different with JJ (AJ Cook) and Will (Josh Stewart).
“Garcia and Tyler Green had this secret relationship, it got discovered, things went sideways. She stood up for herself and said, I can’t be with somebody who’s gonna do this, but when we have him come back, it’s gonna make her question all of that,” the showrunner continued. “‘Is this my person?’ will definitely be something she explores this year. And then Alvez is the sweetest, and I love them together so much, so it’ll be an interesting little triangle with them.”
Will Lewis and Rebecca get back together?
Rebecca was potentially taking a job in Sacramento — Gold Star might change that — but we can’t help but have hope that this relationship will work out for Lewis (Aisha Tyler). If Pacent returns, “that will also help define where she and Lewis are. It’ll be a slow probably getting back on track for them, but we really like them together and we want our heroes to find that happiness,” Messer teased. And hey, even if it doesn’t last, we think this relationship will show Lewis she can have one.
