The "Criminal Minds" Reboot Officially Has a Premiere Date

Paramount+ previously announced the series will be called "Criminal Minds: Evolution," which hints that this is just the beginning of the show's new chapter.

On Aug. 12, Joe Mantegna, who plays veteran profiler David Rossi, shared a video of himself on Instagram (which you can view above) captioned "Day 2 of filming, we're back!"

Meanwhile, on Aug. 8, Paget Brewster, who plays agent Emily Prentiss, shared a selfie with the caption, "Oh, hi Guys !! This is my first ⁦@criminalminds hair and make up from this morning. . .I hope you're all excited for a slightly older, sassier, no filters, grey-haired Prentiss. And if you aren't, that's cool, just tell someone else." She followed that with another selfie shared on the same day, writing, "Okay, this was a bad headshot attempt but thank you all for the kind words!! Everyone ⁦@criminalminds just wants you to be happy ⁦that we are coming back! We miss you and love you and can't wait to be reunited."

Previously, on July 12, Mantegna teased the show's return by sharing a photo of himself on what appears to be a film set, writing, "Just doing a little inspection today for an upcoming project" on Twitter and "Three guesses where I was today?" on Instagram, both with the hashtags #criminalminds.

The show will see many of the original cast reprise their iconic roles, but some big names will be missing.

The cast members reprising their long-time characters include Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, A.J. Cook as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, and Aisha Tyler as Tara Lewis.

Matthew Gray Gubler starred as the fan-favorite character Spencer Reid for the show's 15-season run. However, according to a Deadline report, Gubler, who last appeared in "Dollface," is not inclined to revive his widely adored character.

Brewster addressed Gubler's exit in an interview with Looper in July 27. "Matthew was the only person in the last two seasons that had been in every single episode. He did 15 years straight through. From 25 to 40, the guy was on one show, and that's when we shot 22, 24 episodes a year. He was never able to go do other stuff, so I understand," she said. "He wants to direct. He graduated from NYU to direct, and his first audition was 'Criminal Minds.'"

She continued: "Imagine you never expected to be an actor and then suddenly it's 15 years of your life. I understand why. I'm hoping he changes his mind, but I understand why he wants to do other things. I was gone from 'Criminal Minds' for four years. I got to do a ton of other things that enriched my life and my resume, and my education, so I understand how he feels."

Shemar Moore starred as the charming Derek Morgan from season one to season 11 of "Criminal Minds" before taking a step back to a reoccurring role from season 12 to season 14 to pursue other projects — one of those being CBS's other hit show "S.W.A.T.," which premiered in 2017 and is still going strong. His starring role on the show is probably what's preventing him from signing on for the "Criminal Minds" revival. But considering "S.W.A.T." is under the Paramount umbrella, it doesn't seem totally out of the question that Moore could appear in the reboot as a guest at some point.

Daniel Henney joined "Criminal Minds" as the character Matthew Simmons toward the end of the series' run in season 10, becoming a regular from season 13 until the series finale. Henney's absence from the revival is likely due to scheduling conflicts owing to his role in Amazon Prime's fantasy drama "The Wheel of Time."

On Sept. 9, Paramount+ announced "Friday Night Lights" alum Zach Gilford has joined "Criminal Minds: Evolution" for a season-long arc. He's set to play Elias Voit, an operations analyst for a security firm who has a secret dark side. It sounds like Elias could be a potential unsub, especially since the streamer noted he's obsessed with death.

Additionally, the original series' executive producer, writer, and showrunner, Erica Messer, is confirmed to be steering the highly anticipated reboot. The writers and executive producers Breen Frazier and Chris Barbour also make up the creative team behind the latest revival.

According to Nicole Clemens, the president of Paramount+ Original Scripted Series, the latest iteration of "Criminal Minds" will be "full of new twists," delivering "new stories for a new generation of viewers."

The fresh batch of episodes will reportedly build a thrilling criminal chase against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The official logline gives a glimpse of the upcoming revival's plot. "The FBI's elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. Now, as the world opens back up, the network goes operational, and our team must hunt them down, one murder at a time," the streamer shared.

The reboot will be streaming later this fall, with two episodes premiering on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, Entertainment Weekly confirmed on Sept. 21. Following the debut, new episodes will air weekly on Thursdays until the midseason finale on Dec. 15. The 10-episode season will then resume on Jan. 12, 2023, with new episodes weekly until the Feb. 9, 2023, finale.

Paramount+ hasn't shared any teasers previewing the "Criminal Minds" revival just yet. Fans can probably expect an official trailer to arrive soon.

The "Criminal Minds" reboot will start with 10 new episodes.