Criminal Minds appeared to hint at a possible major cast exit ahead of season 19 — but who is expected to return so far?
The official account for the hit Paramount+ series shared a photo from the set in May 2025 with the caption, “The BAU is back on the case! A new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution has officially started filming.”
In the social media post, Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler, Kirsten Vangsness, Adam Rodriguez, A.J. Cook, Paget Brewster and Ryan-James Hatanaka all smiled for the camera. The only main cast member missing? Zach Gilford.
The first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution (a.k.a. season 16 of the OG Criminal Minds series) introduced Voit as the main antagonist. The BAU spent the entire season hunting down the prolific killer, who they nicknamed Sicarius after linking him to 62 murders — and for being the mastermind behind setting up an online network of fellow serial killers.
‘Criminal Minds’ Cast: Then and Now
After Voit was arrested — for a single murder — he became a professional criminal consultant for the BAU. Voit’s status as the villain was left up in the air when earlier this season he had significant memory loss that caused him to no longer be labeled as a psychopath.
“This is what I love about it is his brain patterns. His brain is literally physically changed. So in theory, he is a good person and he is a normal person now. But he still has done all those things,” Gilford exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2025. “It’s a really cool concept that even though neurologically this person would never do this again — he has done it. It is just such a crazy concept that there’s no real right answer to. Ultimately I’m like, ‘Well, he did do it all … allegedly.’”
Voit’s unclear future on the show comes after Josh Stewart‘s character Will was killed off. In a May 2025 episode, JJ’s (Cook) husband, Will, collapsed after experiencing a headache. The team rushed to the hospital to support JJ, only to find out that Will didn’t make it.
Keep scrolling for what to know about which Criminal Minds characters are coming back — and which might not:
Joe Mantegna
Mantegna is set to return in the role of Rossi, which he has played since taking over for Mandy Patinkin in the original Criminal Minds show.
A. J. Cook
Cook will return to play JJ, who is still mourning the loss of her husband.
“We definitely touch on a lot of the grief phases. And it is not like we shoot one episode and she’s gone through all of it and it’s tied up neatly with a nice bow. That’s not how grief works,” Cook told TV Insider in May 2025. “So this is going to be something that we’re going to see throughout the whole season. And then beyond that.”
She continued: “This never goes away. This now has shaped her into this new single mother, and it will continue shaping her as she now learns to work through life this way. So I’m excited to see what that looks like for her. It’s been a journey already, and it’ll continue to be a journey in Criminal Minds form.”
Kirsten Vangsness
Since Vangsness was in the photo from set, it feels safe to assume that Garcia is not going anywhere any time soon.
Aisha Tyler
Another character who appeared to be safe was Tara (Tyler) after dealing with some issues in her personal life before reuniting with girlfriend Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) in season 18.
Zach Gilford
Gilford — and the rest of the Criminal Minds cast — has acknowledged that Voit can’t remain on the show for good.
“I was supposed to leave the show a while ago and I’ve been pitching, ‘Well, I have to leave at some point. If you’re not going to kill me, we should have a spinoff,’” Gilford quipped to Us in May 2025. “It’s called Criminal Mind: Voit and it follows what Voit is doing when he is out in the world. Somehow he either escapes or he gets released and he is this white whale to the BAU. So Criminal Minds can keep going and having their [unsub] of the week — but they’ll always be like, ‘I wonder if Voit had something to do with this.’”
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Ryan-James Hatanaka
While season 18 explored Tyler (Hatanaka) working with the BAU while training to officially join the team, it was revealed that he would likely have to be moved elsewhere to gain experience. Tyler seemed shocked that it could take 10 years for him to officially be part of the BAU team — but so far the show has found ways to keep him working with the rest of the team in the field.
Adam Rodriguez
Rodriguez, who is presumably returning as Luke, recently spoke to Us about how high the stakes are on the show.
“You never want to turn the page [and find out that your character was killed off]. But I will say that thanks to our boss and leader on the show, [showrunner] Erica Messer, no one would be surprised by that. You would definitely get a call long before that was going to happen,” Rodriguez told Us in May 2025. “You would be given a heads up, I can say for sure. But nobody wants to get that call.”
Rodriguez praised Criminal Minds for being a good place to work, adding, “We love being there. This is such a dream job. It is just such a wonderful place to show up and go to work every day. Nobody wants it to be over and nobody wants to leave. So hopefully we get to do the show for a long time.”
He continued: “Hopefully nobody gets sacrificed for the sake of good television and we find some other people that we can build enough merit. Will ended up serving that purpose this year. But I think it just brings something else to the show that fans can enjoy and suffer through with us.”
Paget Brewster
According to the behind the scenes photos, Prentiss is alive and well by the time season 18 will come to an end.
Matthew Gray Gubler
Despite making a cameo in season 18, Gubler isn’t expected to keep returning consistently in future episodes. He last played Reid on the show when it was still on CBS and didn’t return for the Paramount+ revival.
“We love [Matthew] and he’s always going to be a part of the family. We would love for an opportunity to arise to get him back. And we have tried — and he has tried,” showrunner Erica Messer exclusively told Us in July 2024. “It just hasn’t worked out timing-wise. But it’s not for lack of trying.”
Gubler is currently filming his upcoming CBS series, Einstein.
