'I work on this show': a Criminal Minds crew member learned it's ending from Reddit
Paramount+ is ending Criminal Minds after 20 seasons, and at least one person on the show found out from a thread. The show has already survived one ending, and its studio has a whole other streamer.
Paramount+ announced on October 30 that Criminal Minds: Evolution will end with season 20, which has already wrapped production and arrives in 2027. The r/television thread about the news soon had a reply from a user who says they work on the show.
"I work on this show, this is a lovely way to find this out."
— a Reddit user who says they're on the Criminal Minds crew
Showrunner Erica Messer's own statement didn't exactly suggest a long goodbye either. She described herself as "suddenly navigating the end of this chapter," and per Deadline, season 20 was finished before the decision was made, which means the cast and crew shot a final season without knowing it was one.
Why the decision is strange
By streaming standards, Criminal Minds is about as safe as it gets:
- 2005–2020: Fifteen seasons on CBS, which ended the original run.
- 2022: Paramount+ revives it as Criminal Minds: Evolution.
- March 2026: Paramount+ renews it early, before season 19 even premieres.
- May–July 2026: Season 19 airs, and the show sits in the Paramount+ Top 10.
- October 30, 2026: Paramount+ ends it. Deadline reports it's the first official cancellation under the streamer's new leadership, with Casey Bloys as chief content officer for Skydance's direct-to-consumer side, following a recommendation from the previous regime.
Twenty seasons would tie it for fifth on the list of longest-running US scripted dramas. Nobody is ending this show because people stopped watching it.
Paramount+ renewed Criminal Minds early in March. Seven months later, it was the first show the new regime canceled.
Where season 21 lives
This isn't the end of the BAU, it's a change of channel. Criminal Minds is co-produced by CBS Studios and 20th Television, which belongs to Disney, along with ABC and Hulu. A show this reliable on streaming is exactly the kind of asset Disney doesn't let sit, and 20th Television has done this before. It brought Futurama back twice after Fox canceled it, first on Comedy Central and then on Hulu, and it moved Last Man Standing from ABC to Fox in 2018.
Criminal Minds already lived through one ending, when CBS wrapped it in 2020 and Paramount+ revived it two years later. Its studio now has a streamer of its own and every reason to try again. For 20 seasons of viewers, the only real question is where to look for season 21.
Season 20 brings back Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, RJ Hatanaka, and Paget Brewster. Messer told TV Insider the final season will "probably" center on Rossi.
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