‘Criminal Minds’: As Dealmaking Continues, Six Stars Are Poised To Return For Revival On Paramount+
04.02.2022 - 21:15
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Almost a year after the Criminal Minds revival for Paramount+ was announced, there is still no one officially attached to the series. However, six fan favorite cast members, Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Adam Rodriguez, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler and Paget Brewster, have agreed to come back, subject to closing their deals and availability, I have learned.
I hear finalizing the sextet’s contracts has been put on hold as Criminal Minds lead studio, ABC Signature, moved to make a deal with the series’ longtime executive producer/showrunner Erica Messer. Negotiations with Messer, who has an overall pact with the studio, are still ongoing, with the two sides getting closer but still not close enough for a deal to be imminent, sources said. Meanwhile, I hear that a license agreement for a 10-episode new season of Criminal Minds has been reached between Paramount+ and the studios behind the crime drama, ABC Signature and CBS Studios. (A license deal with the network/platforms as well as pacts with showrunner(s) and the cast are all necessary elements for a series to go forward.)
I hear Mantegna, Vangsness, Rodriguez, Cook, Tyler and Brewster are in sync and ready to finish negotiating once Messer’s situation is resolved. The sextet represents the majority of Criminal Minds’ cast in its 15th and final season. Missing from the list are original cast member Matthew Gray Gubler, who had indicated that he was ready to move on after playing Spencer Reid for 15 years, and Daniel Henney, who stars in The Wheel Of Time. The Prime Video series, which films in Prague, has been picked up for two more seasons, and any potential Henney guest appearance on Criminal Minds would be subject to his commitment to Wheel Of Time and