Criminal Minds Season 20 Will Be the Last, Ending a 20-Year Run on Paramount+

The FBI profilers of Criminal Minds are headed for their final case file. Criminal Minds Season 20 will be the last for Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+, closing a franchise that began on CBS in 2005 and survived one cancellation already. The season is due to premiere in 2027, and no date has been announced.

A Sudden Decision Under New Management

According to Deadline, the decision was made recently. It would be the first official cancellation by Paramount+’s new leadership team under Casey Bloys, co-chair and chief content officer for Skydance Direct to Consumer. Deadline’s sources say the call followed a recommendation from the previous Paramount+ regime. That regime had given the show an early renewal for Season 20 in March, before Season 19 even debuted.

The timing is part of what makes the news striking. Season 19 aired between May and July, according to Variety, and Deadline reports the show is currently in Paramount+’s Top 10. Deadline suggests the decision may come down to how that performance stacks up against cost, or to the show’s nature as a broadcast-style series on a streaming platform.

No Chance for a Proper Ending

Because production on Criminal Minds Season 20 wrapped earlier this fall, the writers could not shape it as a series finale. Showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer’s statement hints at the shock. She spoke of “suddenly navigating the end of this chapter,” while saying she is grateful to the cast, crew and fans and looks forward to “celebrating the legacy” of the show.

The End of Paramount+’s Broadcast Revivals

Deadline notes that Evolution is the last of its kind on the service, following earlier Paramount+ continuations of network-style shows such as SEAL Team, Frasier and NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Jane Wiseman, the streamer’s former head of originals, left last week after the merger. In August she said she and her team were “big fans” of the show and open to more series in that mold. Paramount+ will still carry a full slate of CBS broadcast series, which arrive on the service the next day. Deadline also points to sibling service HBO Max, where a show like The Pitt uses longer episode orders, procedural elements and a yearly schedule while keeping a premium feel.

The streaming version of the show was never a carbon copy of the original. The Hollywood Reporter notes that since moving to Paramount+ in 2022, Criminal Minds became more serialized, with story arcs running across a whole season. Seasons were 10 episodes each, compared with 22 or more for most of the CBS run. The original series ran for more than 300 episodes from 2005 to 2020 and spawned two shorter-lived spinoffs, Suspect Behavior and Beyond Borders.

Where the Franchise Stands

Even at 20 combined seasons, the show is tied for fifth among the longest-running drama series, per Deadline. Only Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy have lasted longer, and all four are still on the air. Deadline’s headline framing, “for now,” leaves the door slightly open, but nothing in the sources points to a revival plan.

The cast includes Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler and RJ Hatanaka, with Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Messer executive produces alongside Breen Frazier, Chris Barbour, Glenn Kershaw, Stacey Hardt and Mark Gordon. The series is produced by 20th Television and CBS Studios. For fans, Criminal Minds Season 20 will be the last chance to see the team in action, though not necessarily a planned goodbye.

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File photo: Criminal Minds at Paley.jpg by etrainer, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.