| Bg Colour: |
|
| Season Name: | Criminal Minds: Evolution |
| Season Number: | 16 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Network: | Paramount+ |
| Episode List: | List of Criminal Minds episodes |
The sixteenth season of the American police procedural crime drama television series Criminal Minds, now subtitled Evolution, follows members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they are faced with a network of serial killers built during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evolution serves as a revival of the series after its original run on CBS ended two years earlier.
The season premiered on November 24, 2022 on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Disney+ in other regions on November 25, 2022.
In January 2023, Evolution was renewed for another season. Filming began in January 2024. It premiered on June 6, 2024 on Paramount+ in the U.S., and on Disney+ in other regions on June 7, 2024.
See also: List of Criminal Minds episodes.
In February 2021, a revival of Criminal Minds was announced to be in early development at Paramount+ with 10 episodes planned. The series was confirmed to be still in development in February 2022. Paramount+ officially gave a series order in July 2022. The official title of the new series was revealed in September 2022.
In May 2023, CBS Home Entertainment announced that Evolution would be released to Blu-ray and DVD on June 20, 2023; with the home release officially dubbing it the "sixteenth season" of the series overall.[2]
Most of the main cast of the last season of the previous series returned, with the exception of Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney. On September 4, 2022, Josh Stewart confirmed he would reprise his role as Will LaMontagne Jr. On September 9, 2022, Zach Gilford was cast in a recurring role.
Filming began in August 2022. In September 2022, Joe Mantegna announced that he would be directing an episode this season. Later that month, it was confirmed that A. J. Cook, Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez would also be directing episodes this season.[3]