Criminal Minds: Evolution Canceled at Paramount+ After 20 Seasons

Paramount+ has canceled "Criminal Minds: Evolution," ending the crime drama's run after 20 seasons, and the show's stars are already saying goodbye in public. A.J. Cook, Paget Brewster, Kirsten Vangsness and RJ Hatanaka posted tributes within days of Friday's cancellation news.

Cook marked the moment with a Halloween photo. She wore a tombstone costume for Jennifer Jareau, the special agent she has played since "Criminal Minds" debuted in 2005. "Rest in peace JJ (for now) #criminalminds #halloween #stillprocessing," she wrote. Jareau, known to fans as JJ, began as the BAU's media and police liaison before becoming a profiler in later seasons.

How did the other cast members respond?

Brewster, who has played FBI supervisory special agent Emily Prentiss since Season 2, kept her message shorter. She shared a black-and-white photo bearing the text "Free Agent." Hatanaka, who joined in Season 16 as FBI agent Tyler Green, posted a photo of the cast with the caption, "Just the finest group of people."

Vangsness, who has portrayed technical analyst Penelope Garcia since Season 1, posted a video on Instagram. "Social media is sort of like getting to do your own press conference I guess. This has happened. It's being canceled, but then it says right there it's ending 'for now,'" she said.

She reached for a literary comparison to describe the moment. "You know the part in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' where Charlie gets the chocolate, and it's a little bittersweet. He's like, 'Thank you so much for the chocolate.' Look at how long, that doesn't happen ever," Vangsness said, referring to the show's 20-season run.

The actress left the door open for a future revival. "But I love my job, and my boss Erica Messer says there are so many more stories to tell. So if we get to keep telling them somewhere, that would be amazing. I know all of us feel the same way," she said.

In the video's caption, she thanked her colleagues by name. She wrote that her "heart fireworks in appreciation for the time at this job @criminalminds and my co-horts at fake murder camp @pagetpagetgram @ajcook @aishatyler @rjhatanaka @adamrodriguez @joemantegna." Garcia, her character, was beloved in part for her on-screen relationship with agent Derek Morgan, played by Shemar Moore, during the original run.

What does the cancellation change for the franchise?

News first broke on Friday that the long-running procedural would end with its 20th season. "Evolution" picks up after the events of the original "Criminal Minds," which CBS had already renewed for a fifteenth and final season in January 2019. Paramount+ revived the property for Season 16 in 2022, extending the franchise well beyond its network life.

Season 19 aired between May and July of this year. Season 20, the last, will air in 2027. The current cast also includes Joe Mantegna, Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez.

Vangsness's "for now" framing, echoed in Cook's caption, signals that the cast does not treat this as a definitive end. Showrunner Erica Messer's own stated view that there are "so many more stories to tell" gives the franchise's audience a concrete reason to expect the BAU could return on another platform after 2027.