Paget Brewster offers a promising update regarding the efforts to bring back the BAU through Paramount+’s revival of CBS’ Criminal Minds.
The Criminal Minds reboot gets a promising update from Paget Brewster. CBS’ police procedural ran for 15 years before it ended in 2020. Created by Jeff Davis, Criminal Minds centers on the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) which uses profiling to hunt down serial killers in the U.S..
Criminal Minds had two spinoffs, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, but nothing came close to the success of the original series. Over its 15 years on the air, the show went through several cast reshuffles, including some big exits from Mandy Patinkin, Shemar Moore, and Thomas Gibson, but it thrived, proving that it was a true ensemble project. When news of its revival broke out in early 2021, fans were both ecstatic and surprised. While many of them were thrilled about the news, it was also unexpected that a reboot was already in the works not long after Criminal Minds wrapped up.
More than a year later, Brewster, who played BAU chief, Emily Prentiss, offers an update regarding the project. In a new interview with Decider, she reveals that the Criminal Minds reboot is quietly progressing behind the scenes. There are already personnel working on pre-production and a licensing agreement is currently in the works. While no cast member has signed a contract yet, Brewster says that she is optimistic that Paramount+’s Criminal Minds revival will move forward. Read her full quote below:
So the status of Criminal Minds coming back as a Paramount+ series… I guess it’s still a “it’ll happen when it happens” situation?
It is! And there are people who have been hired in preproduction, but none of the cast have signed their contracts yet. So I believe that ABC and CBS are still working out a licensing agreement. They have good faith, I believe, that we will be moving forward. We’ve been told, “Visit your family now, because in a couple of months, it’s not gonna happen.” So we’re all very confident that it’s going to happen. But, y’know, nothing is real until you… Well, not even when you sign the contract! Once we’ve shot the first episode, that means that Criminal Minds is coming back. [Laughs.] That’s just how this business is! And it’s all stuff that’s out of our hands. Because we all agreed in November: “Yes, we’re all onboard, we’re ready to sign.” So there’s clearly some other structure that needs to be figured out before we can start. But we’re all very, very optimistic.
Since it was announced that Paramount+ is rebooting Criminal Minds, there hasn’t been any substantial update regarding the project. At one point, it was even deemed dead but was eventually debunked. Other than that, there hasn’t been any concrete information regarding the project. For what it’s worth, Brewster’s answer is on the safer side. She provides promising updates regarding the project, including the specific steps that have been taken to move the Paramount+ reboot forward but also reminds people that until contracts are signed and they have filmed the first episode of Criminal Minds season 16, there’s still a chance that it won’t happen.
While Brewster didn’t get into further details about the developmental progress of the Criminal Minds reboot, it’s interesting that she says that all cast members have agreed to return for the Paramount+’s revival. The initial reports about the show didn’t include Daniel Henney and Matthew Gray Gubler. Henney is currently busy with The Wheel of Time playing Lan Mandragoran, so it might make it difficult for him to partake in the Criminal Minds revival. But Gubler’s possible absence can be a big one since Spencer Reid was an important part of its original run. Given Brewster’s latest quote, it’s curious if both actors finally signed on to appear on the new show.
Source: Decider
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