[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 17 of Criminal Minds: Evolution.]

The Big Picture

In Season 17 of ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution,’ David Rossi faces challenges working with Elias Voit, a dynamic strained by the past threat he’s been to the BAU.
Cast members Joe Mantegna and Zach Gilford discuss how much they enjoy the dual dynamics between their characters.
Voit’s calculated and unpredictable nature adds intrigue to the new season, which he wasn’t originally expected to return for.

In Season 17 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which streams on Paramount+, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) has found itself in the position of having to team up with captured serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) to track the highly dangerous and deadly Gold Star killers. Having been the one to kidnap and leave David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) in a bunker obviously strains the dynamic with Voit, which makes the order to work with him a challenging one. And to make things even more interesting, Rossi is having conversations with a ghost-like manifestation of Voit as he works everything out in his mind.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Mantegna and Gilford talk about the unusual dynamic between their characters, the joy Mantegna gets from working with this cast, Gilford’s feeling that he was set up for success when he joined as the new guy, the fun of getting to antagonize everyone, not wanting to rely on CGI for the ghostly conversations, and that Voit is more mentally stable than anyone realizes.

Criminal Minds Criminal Minds follows the elite team of FBI profilers in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they analyze and track down the country’s most dangerous serial killers and criminals. Led by experienced agents like Jason Gideon, Aaron Hotchner, and later David Rossi, the team delves into the minds of the perpetrators, using psychological profiling and investigative techniques to anticipate their next moves. Each episode features intense and often chilling cases, while also exploring the personal lives and challenges faced by the team members.Release Date September 22, 2005 Cast shemar moore , Joe Mantegna , Kirsten Vangsness , Paget Brewster , Thomas Gibson , Matthew Gray Gubler , A.J. Cook , Mandy Patinkin , Lola Glaudini , Rachel Nichols , Jennifer Love Hewitt , Aisha Tyler Seasons 17 Streaming Service(s) Paramount+ Showrunner Erica Messer Expand

‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Is Creatively and Personally Fulfilling for Joe Mantegna
Image via Paramount+

Collider: Joe, when you returned to this show and this character last season, what did you realize you most enjoyed about playing Rossi, with this team and in this world, that you maybe hadn’t realized after you were doing it for a number of seasons?

JOE MANTEGNA: What I came to realize is just how much I enjoy being with these people and doing this show, and the whole experience. It’s two-fold. You can do something that’s very successful and that the public loves and it continues on, but it’s not necessarily a worthwhile or fulfilling experience for you personally. And then, you can have the opposite. I’ve been in both situations. I’ve had it be something that was like, “Man, I had the greatest time in the world. I hope this thing goes on forever.” And of course, it goes on for the next 10 seconds and it’s gone. This is a case where both things are satisfied. I can’t think of a better group of people that I would rather be working with. And then, there’s the fact that it has resonated around the world, otherwise we wouldn’t still be doing it. They wouldn’t have brought us back and they wouldn’t have rebuilt sets that cost millions of dollars unless there’s obviously something to this. And so, I feel very blessed and I’m very grateful for that opportunity to do this role in a show that we’re still doing.

Zach, what was that like for you to come in and join, especially with the type of character that you’re playing? What’s it like to be the guy that gets to antagonize everybody? Does it feel different to know who you’re playing, going in, as opposed to having a character evolve and finding that out?

ZACH GILFORD: Yeah. I was luckily set up for success. I came in last year and I was definitely nervous about being the new guy, but the way the season played out, I wasn’t around anyone until the final episode. I got to get my bearings on the show and be confident in what I was doing. I got to work with Joe [Mantegna], and then Adam [Rodriguez] and A.J. [Cook] as directors, so I got to know them. Kirsten [Vangness] brought me cookies in the first week. I was like, “This is a very nice group of people.” I got to know them over the course of the season, and coming back this season, when I’m actually interacting with them more, a lot of what I’m doing is pushing their buttons and getting under their skin. I’m set up for success again because I know them and, yes, there are things on the page, but I also know, “This would probably annoy Adam, if I joked with him about this, or that person about that.” It’s all in good fun and they appreciate it. So, I’ve just been so lucky. And to get to also play a character who, in the second season, you get to see a whole other side of, instead of just doing the thing I did last year again, it’s been so much fun to get to work with this group of people. And it’s not just the cast, it’s the crew, it’s the producers, and it’s the writers. It’s just the most respectful kind and fun work environment.

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The show hasn’t really had a character like yours before, spanning the whole season, but then also bringing him back for another season. What was it like to learn that you would get to continue to hang around after everything that happened and how that would play out this season?

GILFORD: The way I found out initially was, towards the end of last season, (showrunner) Erica Masser told me, “We don’t know how the season’s gonna end, but we do know we’re not gonna kill you because we want to bring you back.” And I was like, “Awesome, I’d love to come back.” I had a few conversations over the hiatus with Erica and Breen [Frazier] about what they were thinking, but really, I got all the information as the scripts came out and I loved them. I love that he’s this guy in a cell who’s just giving nuggets of information and waxing philosophical and giving these long monologues. It was a challenge, as an actor, to try to find ways to be just in a cell for however many episodes, and try to make it entertaining and not just like, “Well, this guy’s talking again.”

Joe, Rossi says he has a plan for working with Elias Voit, but how many times is that plan going to blow up in his face?

MANTEGNA: It’s a tough one because of what’s already happened to him, being buried underground and the different things he’s put me through. And now, he’s around me even when I don’t want him to be around me, but when he’s around me, he isn’t even really around me. It’s a reflection of just how intense things are and how much of an impact this character has had on Rossi. It’s good because it also shows the vulnerability of people in this line of work. PTSD is prominent for anybody in this kind of work, whether it’s law enforcement or military. Those high-level stress situations can sometimes get the best of you. It’s like that old saying about how it doesn’t matter that you fell, but it’s how you get up. We’ll see what happens, but we’re going through some pretty intense moments here.

Joe Mantegna & Zach Gilford Wanted Their Unusual ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Dynamic To Be As Realistic As Possible

What was it like for you guys to find the two layers of that dynamic, the one in real life and the one that just exists in Rossi’s head?

GILFORD: For me, it was on the page. Joe was gonna do what Joe was gonna do, but it read very much like the last version of Elias that Joe saw, towards the end of last season, aloof and unfazed. I just say things to fuck with him. I’m just a voice in his head. It’s all things that he thinks I would say, or part of his subconscious is saying. It’s just manifested in the personification of [my character].

MANTEGNA: In instances like that, you have to rely on the talent of the writing staff and hope that it’s there and that it’s not gonna be cliché or something corny. They nailed it pretty good, so it was just a matter of playing what was written. It seemed very realistic to me. I was very much like, “Yeah, I can see how this can happen.

GILFORD: All the reveals of me were practical. Very often, I was under a table or ducking down in a car seat as the camera would move very subtlely. It plays really well because it seems like this guy just appears out of nowhere. We didn’t rely on CGI, or anything like that. It was definitely funny and goofy to do, but I think the payoff was a really cool effect.

Zach, is part of Elias Voit’s goal specifically to get under the skin of this team? Is he being outwardly manipulative and calculating with everything, or is it just a bonus fun for him when that happens?

GILFORD: It’s a little bit of both. He knows that he can get under their skin and make them not think clearly, and if they’re not thinking clearly, they can slip up, which only benefits him. But the added bonus is that these people put him in jail and took his family away, so the least he can do is have a little fun at their expense.

Joe, does all of this make the team doubt each other at all, or do they still feel like a united front, even though Elias Voit is playing with them?

MANTEGNA: We’ve been together a long time. There is a camaraderie and closeness that probably can’t ultimately be destroyed, but there’s no doubt that there are some flies in the ointment there that have caused an unbalance. That’s the beauty of it and also what keeps it interesting. Otherwise, it would be very much cut-and-dry and black-and-white, and it certainly isn’t. That’s what’s intriguing and what keeps people watching.

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Zach, I loved the moment at the end of episode two when Elias Voit whispers something to Luke Alvez and we, as the audience, don’t know what that is. In that moment, were you really whispering something to Adam Rodriguez? Are you told then what is actually being said, or did you find out later?

GILFORD: That’s one of the fun and annoying things about TV. They write down, “Voit whispers in Alves’s ear, and then he reacts.” And I’m like, “What am I saying?! I can do it, but I’d love to know what I said.” And sometimes you get, “We don’t know yet.” Luckily this time, they were able to tell me what it was. They gave me actual lines to say, and we did takes where I said them, but then we also did ones where I didn’t really say anything. In that instance, I did know what I was doing and I knew what my long-term plan was, but when I initially read it, I had no idea. It wasn’t until the day of filming that they we like, “Okay, so here’s what’s going on.” I was like, “Cool, thanks. Good to know.”

Joe, what was your reaction to learning what the plans for all of this are?

MANTEGNA: In Rossi’s case, you’re talking about somebody with a wealth of experience. He’s certainly not the youngest guy in the building, by far. We’re representing a real organization, and at the end of the day, you’d like to think that, more often than not, those guys, regardless of how much turmoil, intrigue and intensity there is, you’re able to of get through it and get to the core and the kernel of it. So, there’s a frustration there, but you’ve gotta do your job.

Zach Gilford Says His Killer ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Character Is More Stable Than People Realize
Image via Paramount+

Zach, does it feel like your character is a bit more unpredictable because he’s not the most mentally stable person?

GILFORD: The thing is, he is actually way more mentally stable than people think. I think every move of his is calculated. There were one or two moments last season, and one or two that come up this season, where you see him react in a way that is unexpected, and I think unexpected to him, which makes the character cool and interesting to me. Everything he does is calculated and, as the season goes on, you’ll go, “Oh, that’s why he said that. That’s why he did that.” It’s not all about Voit, but within the world of Voit, he’s playing chess and the BAU is playing checkers.

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Criminal Minds: Evolution is available to stream on Paramount+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Paramount+