From Maeve’s season 8 murder to Hotchner’s wife being killed by The Reaper, and even a dog’s final goodbye, Criminal Minds has repeatedly found ways to break hearts—now showrunner Erica Messer is weighing what comes next on Paramount+.
The moment you think the BAU has made it through another case, Criminal Minds has a habit of taking someone beloved out of the picture.
With the revival back on Paramount+, the show has already leaned into surprise deaths in its new run—and now that pattern is still in the air as fans scan every detail, every episode, every goodbye. Erica Messer, the series’ showrunner, knows exactly what that kind of loss does to an audience.
“I don’t think we can ever be prepared anytime anything has ever happened with a beloved character,” Messer told Us Weekly in May 2026, before hinting she was open to giving viewers a break.
Criminal Minds premiered in 2005. following a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The crime drama—created around different fictional cases—showed how behavioral analysis helps the team locate unknown subjects. After its initial conclusion in 2020, the original series was revived by Paramount+. Criminal Minds: Evolution brought back most of the cast, with Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster reprising their characters.
Other key characters, including Matthew Gray Gubler’s Reid, have returned through cameos.
And even with those familiar faces returning, the show’s most devastating tradition remains the same: it kills.
Before the revival, fans watched character after character fall—often in ways that stayed with them long after the case file closed.
Hotchner’s wife, Haley—while the BAU was forced to listen on the phone—was murdered by George Foyet, known as The Reaper. The death unfolded in the original series, cementing the kind of terror Criminal Minds does best: personal pain wrapped inside an FBI nightmare.
Maeve’s story cut even deeper for viewers who watched Reid build something real. Her romance with Maeve (Beth Riesgraf) was cut short when her stalker killed her in season 8.
Gideon’s loss carried its own particular ache. Mandy Patinkin left the show as Gideon, but Criminal Minds later revealed in season 10 that Gideon had been murdered off screen—by a serial killer from one of his past cases.
The revival has also kept the emotional losses coming, even when the show gives characters a chance to settle into the new “normal.” Jayne Atkinson’s Strauss had been through her own share of ups and downs with the BAU, but in season 8 she was poisoned by an unsub known as The Replicator.
Will’s death landed as the end of a longer arc for fans. Josh Stewart had a recurring role as Will on Criminal Minds since 2007. In 2024, Stewart raised eyebrows when he said he would not be reprising his role in future seasons. Will’s character then died in a 2025 episode when he collapsed after experiencing a headache.
And in the May 2026 episode, grief didn’t stop at people. During a two-episode premiere, Luke (Rodriguez) was mourning a personal loss while helping the BAU solve a case. By the end of the premiere, viewers learned Luke’s dog, Roxy, had to be put down.
Rodriguez has spoken about how the show handles those kinds of endings. He praised Criminal Minds for the way it navigates character deaths, telling Us Weekly in May 2025, “We love being there. This is such a dream job. It is just such a wonderful place to show up and go to work every day. Nobody wants it to be over and nobody wants to leave.”.
He added: “So hopefully we get to do the show for a long time.”
When he continued. he framed the tradeoff directly: “Hopefully nobody gets sacrificed for the sake of good television and we find some other people that we can build enough merit.” He pointed to one recent example—“Will ended up serving that purpose this year”—and said it added something fans could live with: “But I think it just brings something else to the show that fans can enjoy and suffer through with us.”.
Back on Paramount+. with the BAU’s world still pulling viewers into unknown minds and sudden violence. Messer’s warning lands plainly: beloved characters don’t just vanish on this show—they leave an imprint. And even if she’s hinting at possible reprieves, the record of what’s happened already is hard to ignore.
Criminal Minds Criminal Minds: Evolution Paramount+ Erica Messer Joe Mantegna A.J. Cook Kirsten Vangsness Aisha Tyler Adam Rodriguez Paget Brewster George Foyet The Reaper Hotchner Haley Maeve Beth Riesgraf Reid Gideon Mandy Patinkin Jayne Atkinson Strauss The Replicator Will Josh Stewart Luke Roxy