Criminal Minds: Evolution showrunner Erica Messer has confirmed season 3 will bring back a series tradition, making it very different from the way season 2 was presented. The latest batch of episodes focused on the team unraveling the Gold Star conspiracy, with multiple interconnected mysteries all tied together under the same wider lens. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 ended with many elements of the Gold Star mystery solved, but also with character fates like Voit’s up in the air.
Speaking with TheWrap, Messer revealed that Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 will be bringing back a series tradition going forward, exploring more weekly cases for the team instead of just an overarching story. The showrunner likened it to the structure of season 1, with an overarching story still going in the background as new, weekly cases get investigated.
Our first season felt more hybrid, we had monsters of the week that happened to be tied to this other thing. Then last season, it got really in the weeds with the complicated web of Gold Star and so many mysteries. We are going back to that hybrid version. We have to remember that when Voit was locked up, there’s still a network that he created. So Gold Star was just this side quest and now we’re getting back to the thing that Voit started. We have to get back to that space, it’ll be a little more hybrid.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Going Back To Weekly Cases Is Perfect For Its Future
The Show Can’t Focus On The Same Story Forever
While there are still lingering plot threads that Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 will need to address, it makes sense for the series to go back to its roots by having weekly cases once again. The procedural series always had a new threat to contend with every single week, with the sequel series altering the story to focus more on Voit’s larger storyline. Gold Star was part of that story, the vastness of the conspiracy resulting in season 2 being much more focused on that single plot thread instead of other cases.
By going back to season 1’s format, the series can retain what made it popular in the first place while also still focusing on the larger story at play. In the same interview, Messer confirmed Voit’s time on the show isn’t over despite getting attacked in prison, meaning there’s still plenty of overarching narrative for the series to explore. Although it’s still unclear what direction the series will take from here, the decision to bring back weekly cases will help the show feel more akin to its older self, while still branching off from its latest season.
Perhaps the Criminal Minds: Evolution characters will find ways to piece together existing cases alongside the larger narrative again, but while also investigating some elements that aren’t entirely related to Voit. Season 3’s story is still unknown, though, which means there could easily be more to the upcoming narrative than Messer’s comments suggest. With plenty of directions for the show to take, the return of weekly cases is the perfect way to transition out of the Gold Star story arc and back to business as usual.