Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18 Adds Former Lucifer Star To Cast

Aimee Garcia will play a recurring character in the new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+.

By Haley Miller

Over the summer, Paramount+ released the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution which has quickly proven to be a hit for the streaming service. After 15 seasons of the original police procedural, most of the original cast members as well as a few new faces joined forces to create the series. It was renewed for season 18 in June and a first-look into the upcoming season has been revealed. According to Deadline, Aimee Garcia (Lucifer, Dexter) will play recurring character Dr. Julia Ochoa, a skilled neuropsychiatrist that has been assigned to help a high-profile client recover from his injury-induced brain trauma.

At the end of season 17 Elias Voit is released into general population where he wounds up getting stabbed and brutally beaten. The character description for Garcia certainly fits that, especially because she and Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) will apparently clash over the type of approach to take in treatment. "So excited to join this incredible team," Garcia shared to her Instagram stories, following it up with another screenshot. "When you're a fan ... and get invited to the party."

Season 17 caught up with the BAU after season 1's shocking finale where Voit got taken into the custody by the FBI for killing deputy director Bailey while Tyler Green was working with the BAU. The FBI's elite team of profilers has now begun investigating the deadly mystery of Gold Star. Per the synopsis, "As the conspiracy unfolds, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is met with an unexpected complication when serial killer Elias Voit negotiates a deal that transfers him to federal custody in the BAU's own backyard. The team faces its biggest threat yet and cannot emerge unscathed from the mind-bending consequences."

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 18 is currently in production with series stars Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia), A.J. Cook (Jennifer Jareau), Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), Rodriguez, Aisha Tyler (Dr. Tara Lewis), Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) and Ryan-James Hatanaka (Tyler Green) all returning.

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"...We're just so reinvigorated to be doing the show on Paramount+ now in more than one way. I mean, it's obviously Criminal Minds: Evolution. So it's slightly different from what Criminal Minds was. But we've got these characters that have been around for all of these years, and have built up this relationship with the audience that we now get to explore in a new way," Rodriguez told ComicBook back in June regarding the cinematic changes between the CBS property and the Paramount+ series. "So it lends itself to feeling more cinematic just in the amount of breath, time, and space that we have to do that kind of exploration. I think another big part of that is the addition of Anthony Pietro, who's our Director of Photography now, is amazing and just has a has a great eye and a great feel for the show. And on top of all of that fits into the culture of the show as well."

Stay tuned to ComicBook for news and updates on Criminal Minds: Evolution.

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