Zach Gilford Reveals the One Part He Hates Most About His Killer Role on 'Criminal Minds: Evolution'

This season 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' has a brand-new twist.

The word evolution was added to the title of Criminal Minds: Evolution to indicate that while the reimagining of the CBS series captures the essence of the original show, the Paramount+ version features a time when the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) has gone through some not-so-welcome changes.

One of those is how strapped for resources the BAU is post-COVID shutdowns with a new deputy director putting his support into domestic terrorism, but another is that the focus is on tracking down one major serial killer over the season rather than just solving a case of the week, which they also do.

What makes Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) different from previous Criminal Minds’ Big Bads is that Elias is the mastermind behind a web of serial killers all across the country, which he developed during the lockdown in the hope that by watching their kills, it will alleviate the need for him to take his own victims and keep him out of the hands of law enforcement.

“The cool thing is now what we’re doing that you’ve never done before is going home with the unsub,” Gilford told Parade in this one-on-one interview. “I think it makes him a much more interesting character because he’s not just a bad guy that we want the BAU to catch, we get more. We see who he is in the world. All these people, they have to function, they have to be amongst society. They can’t all just hide in a basement murdering people all the time. And we get to show that side of him and I think it’s fun.”

In episode three, which premiered last week and was directed by Joe Mantegna (SSA David Rossi), Elias returned from a road trip for his day job and took us home to meet his wife and daughter. But even more than that, viewers got to see some of the stressors in his life, like an obnoxious next-door neighbor and the fact that he gets laid off from his tech job.

“You get to see who Voit is in the real world,” Gilford continued. “And it’s like, ‘Oh, my God! This is so fun.’ It’s not just crime stuff, it’s actually like shooting a drama. And then we go into his origin story, and we really flesh him out. So, I think for the audience it’s going to be a little confusing in a sense of you’re going to have feelings for this guy. You might be sympathetic to him at times. And then we’ll get to scenes where I’m doing nefarious things where you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this is that guy? I was just rooting for him.’”

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What has impressed Gilford, who, obviously, only joined the series for the current season, is the amount of care the writers and producers put into each script, each character, and the complexities they've layered into Elias.

“They’re never like, ‘No, this is the way we do it, let’s just do it,’” he said. “Anytime I bump on something they’re like, ‘OK, let’s figure it out. Let’s rewrite it. We just want it to be right.’ It’s been such a great experience, especially when it’s season 16. You would expect them maybe to be a little more like, ‘We know what we’re doing, can you just do our thing?’”

During our interview, Gilford also talked more about the complexities of Elias Voit; comparisons to Ted Bundy; whether or not the role has given him nightmares; and what it’s like to be directed by his castmates, because in addition to Mantegna, Adam Rodriquez (Luke Alvez), A.J. Cook (Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau), and Aisha Tyler (Dr. Tara Lewis) are also each directing an episode.

One of the things that cops always say about criminals is that they’re not the smartest people. But I’m thinking that Elias might be an exception to that. Who do you see him as a person?

I think he’s an incredibly intelligent guy. I think he is a profiler himself, and he’s been able to create a life. Everything is consciously created, nothing’s an accident. I think the only accident is in the life that he’s built for himself to protect himself from being caught, I think he maybe has gotten a little caught up in the fantasy of it. I think he started to believe his own lies in a way, which makes him interesting.

Breen Frazier, one of the writers told me, I think it was about Ted Bundy, he said there was good Ted and bad Ted. And I think this guy functions that way, and likes to believe as long as he keeps the bad Voit separate from good Voit, it’s OK. It’ll just stay over there in the shadows, and I can live my life that I worked really hard to build. It’s sad, I feel bad for him.

You mentioned Ted Bundy, do you think Elias looks at previous serial killers? Do you think there’s part of him that maybe eventually will want to be caught because he wants to be famous?

To the latter, definitely not. I think he does not want to be caught. I think he’ll do almost anything not to be caught. In terms of looking at other serial killers, I actually had not thought about that. I know that he has rules. For his whole life he’s developed these rules. This is the way you do it, and this is how you don’t get caught. Because all the rules are about not getting caught, because that would be the end of the game.

I think he more has been interested in profilers, like the people who would catch him. We see at one point, he’s read some of Rossi’s books. And so, it’s interesting because he does everything he can to stay one step ahead of anyone who might catch him. His rules keep him so far away from his crimes that I think that’s why he can get caught up in his make-believe life, because it feels so removed from his serial killer life.

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For you as an actor, what’s the biggest challenge? Is it doing some of the unsavory things that you have to do, even though we know the people that you kill, they get up after the scene is over? Or is it that so much of what you do, because of the nature of serial killers, you’re on your own and as an actor your job is to react, but in his case so much of what he does he’s alone in his scenes?

That part definitely is a little difficult, because you don’t want to have egg on your face and overdo it, but you also don’t want to be like, is he doing anything? You’ve got to walk that line because in real life, I think, we are kind of just blank face when we’re just doing stuff. But it’s TV, you’ve got to put a little sauce on it.

But in terms of the first part of your question, some of the icky stuff we have to do, even though the people get up, it is not fun to do. I hate guns. So anytime in any movie I’ve ever been in when I have to pretend to shoot a gun, I hate it. Even when I’m playing a cop, I don’t like it. It just feels like, “Ugh!” So, pretending to kill someone is not fun either, whether it be with a gun or who knows what.

Since you don’t like to do that serial killer stuff, do you end up taking it home with you? Since doing this show have you had nightmares?

No, I haven’t had any nightmares. I’m pretty good about when they yell “Cut” and I go home, you have a second to kind of debrief in your trailer, decompress. You have a car ride home and then you get home. It’s definitely draining, and there’s been times my wife looks at me and is like, “Are you OK?” I’m like, “Huh, what? Oh yeah, sorry.” She’s like, “You look like you hate your life.” I’m like, “No, no, no, I’m good. I’m good.”

So much of what you do is alone, you’re not really working with the other cast members. But Joe, Adam, Aisha, and A.J. are directing this season, so is that a nice way to be able to collaborate and connect with your fellow cast members?

It’s been awesome. It’s been so cool, and it’s such a great way to get to know them because you spend so much time with the director and you’re interacting with them. Especially when you’re mostly alone, you’re interacting with the director. And It’s really been fun because they know the show better than anyone.

They’re also actors, so when they’re directing you, they get where you’re at. They’re not just worried about cameras and stuff, they’re like, “No, I know what it’s like to be in front of the camera on this show.” And sometimes they’ll be like, “We do this thing, I know it feels wonky but it always works in the edit, so cool.” Or like, “I know it says to do this, but it doesn’t matter, you can just do whatever feels right as an actor.” They’re so collaborative, it’s really fun. I wish they all were directing so that I could get to know all of them that well. It’s definitely special.

You’re new to the show for this reimagining, but Criminal Minds is huge around the world, it’s one of the most streamed shows. What do you think the appeal is?

I think we all have this weird obsession with serial killers. I don’t know where it comes from. I’m sure someone’s written about it, I just haven’t read. I think it’s also a little elevated in a way. I think if you hadn’t watched it, you’d just lump it in with Law & Order, CSI, or those, but it’s different.

I remember the original pilot, watching it and I know they don’t do it as much as the seasons go on, but just how they would use images. And the characters, when they’re profiling, they’d then be in the space of the serial killer. I thought it was so interesting. I love the profiling by these people: Well, if they’re doing this, it means they must have this sort of thing. I think it just makes us all feel like serial killer catchers.

Criminal Minds: Evolution is currently streaming on Paramount+.

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