{"id":541700,"date":"2026-07-24T09:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/541700\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:17:19","slug":"zach-gilford-exits-criminal-minds-ahead-of-season-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/541700\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Gilford Exits Criminal Minds Ahead of Season 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Criminal Minds: Evolution<\/a>\u2019s big bad is finally hanging up his spiders. In the wake of the long-running procedural\u2019s season 19 finale, Zach Gilford \u2014 who plays infamous serial killer-turned-Hannibal Lecter-esque informant Elias Voit (who at one point used venomous arachnids to murder his victims) for the Behavioral Analysis Unit \u2014 confirms that he won\u2019t be returning next season. <\/p>\n

I spoke exclusively with Gilford about this week\u2019s episode, which saw Voit returning one final time to haunt Joe Mantegna\u2019s Rossi before being put away for good. I asked Gilford about where the character fits in his body of work, whether he\u2019d be up for returning to the show to direct, and his thoughts on not returning as Voit. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it’s sad, honestly,\u201d Gilford says. \u201cWho knows if I ever do come back, but I think Voit is kind of always going to be that white whale not just for Rossi, but the BAU. Even though he’s gone, he’s still going to be lingering in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Voit\u2019s final scenes saw him popping up as an apparition to Rossi, something that has been part of his character\u2019s arc for multiple seasons. Gilford says that, although he wishes he were coming back for Season 20, it was a great way to send off his character. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Zach Gilford and Joe Mantegna in Criminal Minds: Evolution. \u00a9 2026 ABC Studios Inc. and CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s the right way to do it,\u201d Gilford says. \u201cBecause however their relationship has evolved, the last voice that Rossi hears is [Voit] giving him shit. You’re like, \u2018Oh, you think you’re going to get rid of me that easily? That’s not happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilford says that if he ever does get to return to the world of Criminal Minds, he has a superhero-inspired idea for a spin-off. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been pitching,\u201d Gilford says. \u201cI think we should just do a spin-off of my character and make it kind of like a Suicide Squad thing. [Voit is] clearly smarter than everyone in the BAU. They haven’t solved a fucking crime in four years without me. There are no real plans for me to come back, but I’ll jump at it in a heartbeat, as long as it felt not too contrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilford, who\u2019s directed two episodes of Criminal Minds, also says he\u2019d love to return to the show to helm more episodes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God, I’d love to go back and direct,\u201d Gilford says. \u201cI’d just love to be on that set. Directing was so fun. I love our crew. Everyone works so hard and they’re just excited to be there. It’s fun directing on a show where you’re a cast member because everyone’s rooting for you. I’m a hyper-functioning control freak, so directing is a perfect job for [me].\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilford \u2014 whose other roles include the TV adaptation of Friday Night Lights as loveable quarterback Matt Saracen and in Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass as the protagonist Riley Flynn \u2014 says that he doesn\u2019t see Voit as an aberration on a resum\u00e9 filled with characters of all stripes. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just like playing people who are interesting and complex,\u201d Gilford says. \u201cMatt Saracen is the epitome of a good guy. But what made him that was he was this kid who had too much on his shoulders and he was doing his best. He was failing at times but he was just trying to figure it out. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of my favorite roles I’ve played outside [Criminal Minds and] Friday Night Lights would be in Midnight Mass. [That character is a] kind of tortured person who doesn’t know what to do with his life and, much like Voit, is saddled with this guilt of his sins. I don’t like playing one-dimensional characters. And that’s why I think Voit was so cool, because as much as he’s the most prolific serial killer ever, he has a heart and he’s struggling with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite exiting Criminal Minds, Gilford says he feels lucky to be attached to yet another long-running character, even if that meant performing for four seasons as a serial killer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said, as an actor, the first goal is to work. If you’re super lucky you have a role that resonates with people and people know you for. I got that with Friday Night Lights and I think it’s cool to have another one with Criminal Minds. It’s just cool and it just makes you feel like, \u2018Okay, I did good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Criminal Minds: Evolution is streaming now on Paramount+.<\/p>\n

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He’s spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Criminal Minds: Evolution\u2019s big bad is finally hanging up his spiders. In the wake of the long-running procedural\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-541700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}