Criminal Minds: Evolution Renewed — New Season Premiere Date Locked In

Well, it finally happened—a sign of stability in a world of TV shakeups: 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' will live to analyze another day. If you’re counting, Paramount+ just gave the green light for a twentieth season, which is wild when you consider this show started way back in the George W. Bush era. (That either makes you nostalgic, confused, or both. But hey, twenty seasons is a rare TV flex.)

So, When Is the Next Season Actually Premiering?

Here’s what matters upfront: Season 19 of 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' officially drops on May 28, and as usual, it’s only on Paramount+—so no, you won’t find it popping up on regular CBS. This is the show’s second season under the ‘Evolution’ subtitle (don’t ask me how much actually evolved, but roll with it), so the number might confuse you, but yes, this is considered the nineteenth season counting the original run.

And for the long-haulers: they’re already planning for Season 20, eyeing 2027 for the next installment. Kind of bold, but they must still be doing something right.

A Quick Primer for the Uninitiated

If you haven’t been sucked in by a million reruns or streaming autoplay, here’s the gist: 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' follows the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). They’re the profilers who get called in when the cases go from weird to psychopathic—they hunt down serial offenders who are generally the stuff of true crime podcasts and your worst nightmares.

Who’s Coming Back—and Who’s Dropping by?

Main cast is packed with familiar faces:

• Joe Mantegna
• A.J. Cook
• Kirsten Vangsness
• Aisha Tyler
• Zach Gilford
• RJ Hatanaka
• Adam Rodriguez
• Paget Brewster

But the guest star list for Season 19 is where things get a little extra. This season will feature appearances from a solid lineup of TV veterans and a few ‘oh, I know that person’ types: Connor Storrie, Justin Kirk, Yvette Nicole Brown, Clark Gregg, Paul F. Tompkins, Cress Williams, Kofi Siriboe, Lyndon Smith, Richard Cabral, Jeri Ryan, Rob Yang, Nicholas Gonzalez, Inny Clemons, Nicole Pacent, Dash Mihok, Joseph Cross, and Cara Jade Myers. If you’ve ever channel-surfed, you’ve seen at least half these folks in something.

Behind the Scenes

The current showrunner is Erica Messer (she knows the franchise inside-out), and there are a handful of producers keeping the machine running: Breen Frazier, Chris Barbour, Glenn Kershaw, and Mark Gordon. It’s a 20th Television and CBS Studios production. The ‘Evolution’ reboot kicked off in 2022, and apparently, fans and critics were fine with it—Season 16 earned an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is surprisingly solid for a twenty-year-old procedural.

'The series follows the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, a team of profilers tasked with analyzing and capturing the country’s most dangerous criminals, before they strike again,' says Paramount+. (Can you tell the people who write these have watched a lot of their own show?)

So, in short: 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' is back for Season 19 at the end of May, with even more in the pipeline. If you’ve never watched, now is a decent time to see what all the fuss is about (assuming you’re not faint of heart). And if you have, well—draw your profiles, sharpen your pencils, and get ready. The BAU isn’t clocking out anytime soon.