At Least One Criminal Minds Reboot Twist Will Be Inappropriate
Criminal Minds: Evolution's showrunner Erica Messer opened up about the changes the show has undergone during the transition from CBS to Paramount+. At least one of them might seem inappropriate to both fans and some characters of the show.
Erica Messer talked about the Criminal Minds reboot at a Television Critics Association panel. The showrunner explained that a switch from a TV Network to a streaming service will bring some developments to season 16 of Criminal Minds. The major change will be in the way characters interact with each other. Paramount+ has apparently given writers more freedom in using obscene language in dialogues than before.
According to Messer, this freedom will lead to the characters who haven't uttered one swear word for 15 seasons starting to curse. Though some people might find the new language inappropriate, "the dialogue feels more authentic" to Messer.
The showrunner added that one character, in particular, would be bothered by all the swearing, and it is agent David Rossi played by Joe Mantegna. Though it was not explained why Rossi would hate swearing so much, his character's uptightness could come as a good reason for jokes in the show.
Some Criminal Minds fans didn't indeed like the idea of their beloved characters starting to swear all of a sudden.
"Adding swear words does NOT "widen their scope"... if anything it allows for lack of intelligent thought and lazy writing," one fan commented.
Other than adding swear words, there will be other alterations in the reboot. The fans who are used to watching the BAU team take up a new interesting case in each episode will be surprised to find that season 16 revolves around one unsub Elias Voit played by Zach Gilford.
According to the plot, the main villain of Criminal Minds: Evolution used COVID-19 break to create a whole network of serial killers that the agents will have to catch one by one.
According to Messer, the COVID-19 pandemic influenced not only the life of the main unsub of the season but also the arcs of the main characters, especially Mantegna's David Rossi. "We wanted to honor this journey of grief that a lot of people have been through," Messer explained.
However, the showrunner didn't say if the absence of Daniel Henney's Matt Simmons and Matthew Gray Gubler's Dr. Spencer Reid will also be explained by the pandemic. She only promised fans that the beloved characters are "not gone, gone."