Zach Gilford Is Back, Josh Stewart Is Gone As 'Criminal Minds' Returns To Production

 

The contracts are gotten, the holidays are over, and that means it’s back to work. For Criminal Minds, they’re starting production on season 17, or season two with the Evolution subtitle for Paramount+. Joe Mantegna even marked it on his socials declaring their return. But it wasn’t a sure thing for everyone when we last saw them story-wise, and in that regard, it’s kind of a wash.

First off, the good news. Zach Gilford is not done as last season’s big bad UnSub Elias Voit. While defeated in last season’s finale, someone paid him a VIP visit in prison seeking his knowledge of Gold Star, a top-secret something that the U.S. government has been keeping secret for quite a while. Back in February when the finale released, showrunner Erica Messer promised “You have not seen the last of Elias,” explaining that she sees Voit as this era’s “Hannibal Lecter” character. As for Gold Star, they’re not going away either. 

“It’s sort of like, ‘We thought we knew everything… about the [Sicarius serial killer] network and Voit and all this stuff,’” Messer said. “So for Voit to drop that bomb — and to have it mean something to [ill-fated FBI deputy director] Bailey — it’s our jump-start into the next season, for sure.” As for what the season will look like, Evolution will seemingly be mutating into a hybrid mix of case-of-the-week and serialized formatting “In the first four episodes… two are a little bit serial[ized], and two are not.”

However, what won’t be in the new season is one of the show’s longest recurrers. Josh Stewart, who first appeared as New Orleans Police Department detective William LaMontagne Jr. back in Season 2, revealed via Twitter on Wednesday that “sadly, my days of playing Will LaMontagne Jr. are over.” He would then add “You guys have been the absolute best.” LaMontagne met Special Agent JJ Jareau (played by original cast member A.J. Cook) working a case on his home turf. They would marry at the end of season 7, and would appear in most seasons at least once. Evolution notably had a larger exploration of home life, resulting in Stewart appearing in nine of the season’s ten episodes. The character went through a cancer scare that turned out to be an inflamed thyroid, inspired by Cook’s actual husband Nathan having a similar scare in 2019. But that doesn’t mean it’s all clear and the scare can’t lead to something more. Especially if he’s done. Paramount+ representatives did not respond to request for comment on Stewart’s tweet.

Paget Brewster, who plays Emily Prentiss, said when confirming production start that shooting will take place at a “breakneck pace” in order to “get episodes to you ASAP.” In addition to Cook, Mantegna as David Rossi, and Brewster, Criminal Minds currently stars Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, and Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez.

Sources: TVLine (1, 2), Twitter