Which Criminal Minds stars are not returning for season 20?

Criminal Minds wrapped up with season 20 – but not all of the team members are coming back after a terrible uprising.

Criminal Mindswhich first appeared in 2005, follows a group of crime professionals who work for the FBI as members of their Behavioral Analysis Unit. The crime drama explores various fictional cases and shows how behavioral analysis helps the team to find their unknown subjects.

The origin Criminal Minds series was revived by Paramount + after its initial conclusion in 2020. Criminal Minds: Evolution he brought most of the team back with him Joe Mantegna, AJ Cook, Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster repeating their roles. Other main characters – such as Matthew Gray Gublerand Reid – made cameos.

The first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution (aka season 16 of the OG Criminal Minds series) featuring Voit as the main antagonist. The BAU spent the entire season hunting down the prolific killer, who they linked to 62 murders and was the mastermind behind an online network of serial killers.

Voit’s status as the villain was left up in the air when he suffered severe memory loss that led to him no longer being labeled a psychopath. Gilford and the rest of the Criminal Minds the team has admitted that Voit can’t stay on the show for good.

“I was supposed to leave the show a while ago and I’ve been saying, ‘Well, I’ve got to leave at some point. If you’re not going to kill me, we should have a spinoff,'” Gilford exclusively told Us in May 2025. “It’s called Criminal Mind: Voit and it follows what Voit does when he’s out in the world. Somehow he escapes or gets released and he’s this white whale for the BAU. So Criminal Minds can continue and their [unsub] of the week – but they’re always like, ‘I wonder if Voit had something to do with this.'”

Voit was finally canceled ahead of season 20.

“We can both hope [my character Voit will return] but all I know is that I’m not there filming right now,” he told me in July 2026 about his possible return for season 20 of Criminal Minds: Evolution. “It was hard to say goodbye. He was definitely one of my favorite characters I’ve ever gotten to play and partly because he’s a gift. “

He continued: “Every season I had to do a different side of this character. It wasn’t like I was just doing the same thing every year.”

For Gilford, Criminal Minds was the perfect challenge, saying, “It was nice to give this guy a little bit of freedom and go out on a good note for him – so to speak. It’s weird. You wrap up a show and a lot of times you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be back next year and if we’ll have another season in general.’ At this point, I knew it was the end.”

Gilford told us that it was hard for him to say goodbye to Criminal Minds.

“It was a bummer and I’m really like, ‘I’m not good with emotions,'” he said. “So I was literally — before they even officially folded — I felt like it was the last catch. I just left. I didn’t say goodbye to anybody. I just walked out. They’re like, ‘Zach, where are you? Where did you go?’ And then a few people saw me drive out of my car. I’m like, ‘Bye, see you later.'”

Keep scrolling to see who is and isn’t coming back in season 20:

Joe Mantegna

Mantegna is expected to reprise the role of Rossi, which he has played since taking over from Mandy Patinkin in the original Criminal Minds.

AJ Cook

Cook will return to play JJ, who is still mourning the loss of her husband.

Kirsten Vangsness

Vangsness reprises Garcia’s role.

Aisha Tyler

Another character who is safe is Tara.

Zach Gilford

Gilford’s serial killer character is not expected to return – at least during season 20.

Ryan-James Hatanaka

Tyler Hatanaka will continue to be an important part of the show in season 20.

Adam Rodriguez

Rodriguez returns as Luke, who has been mourning a loss.

Paget Brewster

Prentiss is alive and well in season 20 of Criminal Minds.