‘Criminal Minds’ Revival in the Works at Paramount Plus

A “Criminal Minds” revival is in early development at Paramount Plus, Variety has learned from sources.

As the project is still in the early stages, details are still being finalized, including which of the original cast members would return. However, sources say that longtime “Criminal Minds” showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer would return to work on the revival. As with the original series, CBS Studios and ABC Signature (formerly ABC Studios) would produce.

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Reps for Paramount Plus and ABC Signature declined to comment. Reps for Messer did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.

Created by Jeff Davis, “Criminal Minds” was an incredibly popular procedural for CBS, running for 15 seasons and 324 episodes. The series concluded its run on the broadcaster in February 2020.

The show followed a team of FBI profilers who worked for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Over the course of its run, the cast included stars such as Mandy Patinkin, Shemar Moore, Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler, Matthew Gray Gubler, Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini, Paget Brewster, and several others. The show spawned two spinoffs — “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” and “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,” the latter of which was created by Messer.

A “Criminal Minds” revival would be one of several such projects in the works at Paramount Plus, which is how streaming service CBS All Access will be rebranded now that the Viacom-CBS merger is complete. It was announced last week that revival of the MTV reality series “The Real World” is set up at the streamer, with the cast of the show’s first season reuniting for “The Real World Homecoming: New York.” It was previously reported that a docuseries titled “The Real Criminal Minds” will debut on Paramount Plus as well, while a prequel series to the popular Paramount Network drama “Yellowstone” is also in the works at the streamer.

The fact that the “Criminal Minds” revival is in the works on the streaming service rather than at CBS also comes as CBS is plotting expansions of both the “FBI” and “NCIS” franchises with the potential spinoffs “NCIS: Hawaii” and “FBI: International.”

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