Criminal Minds has had a lengthy run for almost two decades and it continues to stay revelant throughoutll the cycles. Now the Paramount+ revival which technically is the nineteenth season overall, drops this May and will be a real treat for longtime fans of the show.
The BAU is back, the team dynamics are messier and more interesting than ever, and a mix of familiar faces plus a few new guest arrivals promises another season worth watching. Here is who is showing up and what they are bringing to the table,
Joe Mantegna leads Criminal Minds as David Rossi
A founding member of the BAU who came out of retirement years ago for “unfinished business,” Rossi is the team’s moral compass, resident wine snob, and occasional chef. In Season 4, Rossi continues navigating the emotional fallout of the last few seasons while serving as the elder statesman of a team that keeps evolving around him.
Joe Mantegna has been playing Rossi since 2007, when he stepped in to replace Mandy Patinkin midway through Season 3. Before that, though, his career was already stacked.
Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss
Emily is the BAU’s Section Chief now, and she has been around for twelve seasons of exits, returns, fake deaths, and real sacrifices. She speaks multiple languages, grew up moving between embassies, and is definitely one of the most strongest characters among everyone in Criminal Minds.
Paget Brewster’s first big TV break came in 1998 when she played Kathy, the girl who came between Joey and Chandler, on Friends. She did voice work on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, voiced Della Duck in the DuckTales reboot, and had a recurring role on Community’s final season.
A.J. Cook as JJ Jareau
JJ started out as the BAU’s communications liaison but then she grew into something far more interesting: a full profiler, a mother, and lately, a woman navigating single parenthood after real grief. Season 4 picks up with JJ still processing loss, and according to Erica Messer, that grief isn’t going anywhere quickly.
Cook has been with the show since the very first episode in 2005. Outside Criminal Minds, Cook appeared in Final Destination 2, the underrated sci-fi series Tru Calling, and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides.
Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia
Garcia is the team’s technical analyst, the human heart of the BAU, a woman who processes genuine horror every day by surrounding herself with color and warmth and keeping everyone else together.
Vangsness has stayed in the universe through both spinoffs, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.
Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis
As a forensic psychologist, Dr. Tara Lewis came to the BAU in Season 11 initially to cover for other agents on leave, and then simply never left. Season 4 gives her a big personal shift to navigate: her engagement to AUSA prosecutor Rebecca Wilson, played by Nicole Pacent.
Aisha Tyler has worked on Ghost Whisperer, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Fear the Walking Dead. Tyler joined Criminal Minds in Season 11 and became a series regular in Season 12.
Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez
Luke Alvez is the field agent who came in when Derek Morgan left. He’s a former fugitive task force operative, which means he’s fast, tactical, and used to working alone.
Adam Rodriguez is best known outside Criminal Minds for two very different things. He spent nine seasons on CSI: Miami as Eric Delko, a DNA analyst and close friend of Horatio Caine. And then he appeared in the Magic Mike trilogy. He also had a recurring role in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. Rodriguez joined Criminal Minds in Season 12 and has been a consistent presence ever since.
Zach Gilford as Elias Voit
Elias Voit is the most complicated figure in Criminal Minds: Evolution’s history. He built the Sicarius network: a web of serial killers who operated during the pandemic, coordinating with each other in ways the BAU had never seen before. But season 4 takes on a different angle: Voit has become a public figure, almost a celebrity in the darkest possible way, and Criminal Minds will explore what that means for everyone involved.
Zach Gilford made his name as Matt Saracen in Friday Night Lights, and later appeared in The Purge: Anarchy, Good Girls, The Midnight Club, and Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
RJ Hatanaka as Tyler Green
Tyler Green is a former army intelligence officer who infiltrated the Sicarius network before the BAU even knew it existed, Green went from informant to consultant to, eventually, a fully-fledged FBI agent.
RJ Hatanaka is a Canadian actor who appeared on Nancy Drew, Nurses, and The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder before landing the role of Tyler Green. He was upgraded to series regular in Season 2 of Evolution and has been building out the character ever since.
More stars who are joining Criminal Minds
The main cast of Criminal Minds is joined by a handful of new additions, including:
- Connor Storrie
- Clark Gregg
- Yvette Nicole Brown
- Jeri Ryan
- Justin Kirk
- Cress Williams
- Kofi Siriboe
- Lyndon Smith
- Richard Cabral
- Rob Yang
- Nicholas Gonzalez
- Inny Clemons
- Dash Mihok
- Cara Jade Myers
- Jim True-Frost
Criminal Minds is streaming on Paramount+.
Edited by Nibir Konwar