After What Criminal Minds' Showrunner Told Us About Plans For Voit Following That Cliffhanger, Zach Gilford Has A Twisted Idea For A Spinoff
Voit definitely isn't gone for good, according to the showrunner.
The latest season of Criminal Minds: Evolution has come to an end in the 2024 TV schedule. The fight to catch the unsub in the high-stakes Season 2 finale got very personal for Prentiss in particular after discovering that the elusive fifth point of Gold Star was none other than Pete Bailey, the brother of slain FBI agent Doug Bailey. Fortunately, Prentiss escaped with her life and without further bloodshed to close the case, but Voit ended the season with a bloody twist. He was stabbed in prison after being moved into gen pop, so I asked showrunner Erica Messer about what the future holds for Zach Gilford's character, and the actor himself has a spinoff pitch.
What The Showrunner Told Us For What's Next For Voit
Zach Gilford's character had been convinced that moving into general population in prison wouldn't lead to him being murdered by other inmates because he'd be incarcerated under his birth name of Lee Duvall rather than Elias Voit. In fact, he was reveling in his confidence that he'd be safe as much as he was reveling in his power over JJ earlier in the season. Instead, he was shanked by other prisoners while on laundry duty in the final moments of Evolution Season 2, and the finale ended without confirming his fate.
Voit did manage to do some damage before he took a knife to to belly by splashing bleach in one of his attackers' face, but he was not in good shape by the time the final credits shockingly rolled. When showrunner Erica Messer spoke with CinemaBlend about plans to continue's Voit's storyline despite being stabbed, she shared:
Voit helped the BAU in a Hannibal Lecter-esque role in Season 2, much to the dismay of pretty much every member of the team. Rossi was still suffering effects of the trauma from being held captive by Voit in Evolution Season 1, and JJ had to do her job despite knowing that Gilford's character had a hand in the BAUgate dark website full of deepfake porn of her.
The villain was able to really wear them down thanks to Evolution's serialized nature compared to the more procedural format of the original series on CBS. When I noted that fans might not have gotten as much of Zach Gilford as Voit back in the CBS days, the showrunner responded:
Criminal Minds: Evolution was renewed for Season 3 back in June, just one day before the Season 2 premiere, so fans went into the finale without any need to worry that there would never be payoff for the Voit cliffhanger. That wasn't the case when the season was being shot, however, so how confident was Erica Messer that the show wouldn't be cancelled with one very big unresolved twist? I asked the showrunner that very question, and she shared:
Despite fans heading into hiatus with the comfort of a Season 3 renewal and now confirmation from Messer that Zach Gilford will be back, that doesn't mean that he'll be back behind bars or taunting the BAU like he was this latest time around. Rossi's arc in Season 2 is proof enough that Gilford can be present in a scene even when the real Voit isn't.
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That of course doesn't determine that Voit died and we'll just see him via Rossi's hallucinations moving forward, but there are certainly more questions than answers. And that brings us to the actor's idea for a spinoff centered on his character!
Zach Gilford's Spinoff Idea
With Voit confirmed to return in some form or other, it's currently a waiting game to find out what Erica Messer has planned for him in Season 3 of Evolution, which will be Season 18 of Criminal Minds overall. For his part, Zach Gilford spoke with Us Weekly about the series that is currently available with a Paramount+ subscription, sharing his idea for a sister show to Criminal Minds:
Voit certainly proved himself to be a slippery bad guy over his first two seasons, and I have no trouble believing that he has connections to get himself some resources if he was to escape prison. There is the question of what he'd be doing, though! Gilford went on:
I would watch that! Even if a Voit spinoff is unlikely to happen, a future standalone episode or two about his life and exploits might be interesting. It's clear that Gilford is invested in his character after two seasons as the killer, to the point that he had an unexpected take on Voit's crimes earlier this year.
It's much too early to expect Paramount+ to announce a premiere date for Season 3, but at least there's no question of whether or not the Voit cliffhanger will ever be resolved. As the wait continues for what comes next, you can always revisit both seasons of Evolution so far streaming on Paramount+ now as well as the fifteen original seasons of Criminal Minds that aired on CBS.
Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).