Photo Credit: Monty Brinton / Paramount+

Criminal Minds: Evolution has its premiere date. The reunion series will arrive on the streaming service on Thanksgiving Day with a two-episode premiere. Criminal Minds veterans Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, Aisha Tyler, Kirsten Vangsness, A.J. Cook, and Adam Rodriguez are returning for the 10-episode season.

As for two actors not returning for the revival, their characters’ absences will be addressed during the season, per Variety. Reid and Simmons, played by Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney, will still be a part of the team but won’t be seen on-screen. Showrunner Erica Messer said the following about the missing characters:

“It’s a little bit more of a mystery what Reid and Simmons are up to. They’re certainly not forgotten. Their desks are still there, still have stuff on it. We’re definitely playing that. They are not gone gone.”

Paramount+ revealed more about the series in a press release.

“Paramount+ today announced the premiere date for CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION. The 10-episode season will premiere with two episodes on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24, exclusively on Paramount+. Following the premiere, new episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays, until its mid-season finale on Thursday, Dec. 15. The season will then return on Thursday, Jan. 12 with all-new episodes dropping weekly through the finale on Thursday, Feb. 9.

The news was revealed by CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION showrunner, executive producer and writer Erica Messer during Paramount+’s virtual Television Critics Association (TCA) presentation today. In addition to Messer, the CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION virtual TCA panel featured cast members Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Paget Brewster and Zach Gilford.

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION will continue and expand the beloved franchise for streaming audiences, blending serialized elements into the series’ format. CBS’ original “Criminal Minds” series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the best of the best who profiled the worst of the worst. In CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time. Original cast members reprising their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Zach Gilford joins the dynamic cast as a recurring guest star in a season-long arc.

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION is produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios. Erica Messer (“Criminal Minds,” “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders”) serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Breen Frazier and Chris Barbour will serve as writers and executive producers, Glenn Kershaw will direct and executive produce and Mark Gordon will also serve as executive producer.

What do you think? Are you excited to see the Paramount+ revival of Criminal Minds this November?