Warning: This article contains spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2

Criminal Minds: Evolution stars Joe Mantegna and Zach Gilford discuss Rossi’s troubling visions of the murderous Voit. The popular Paramount+ revival has returned, bringing back Gilford in the role of Elias Voit. The serial killer manages to remain as one of Criminal Minds‘ cast of characters thanks to a deal he strikes with the FBI, but his objective is clearly to torment the BAU team. That’s especially true of David Rossi (Mantegna), who is taunted by hallucinations of Voit.

In an interview with TV Insider, Mantegna and Gilford discuss Rossi’s visions of Voit in the debut episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2. Mantegna touches on why his character is fixated on Voit, while Gilford sheds light on what makes the ghostly version of Voit different. In the quotes below, Mantegna also talks about the “mutual admiration” between the two characters.

Mantegna: It’s a bit of a different dynamic, but he and I have danced this dance for a while and it’s gone from the ridiculous to the sublime and everything else. We’ve run the gamut in terms of that relationship. So it is fun and interesting to explore that because there are so many aspects to, as I’ve discovered, this character of Voit.

Gilford: Voit had an aloofness around him at the end of last season, and that’s sort of the vibe that he’s playing whenever he is in his head because that’s what Rossi knows of him. There’s a whole other side of him where he is even more of a s—head than he was. I think his approach now is just getting under people’s skin and manipulating them in any way he can. And it’s almost more playful, which is fun. It’s cool to play those two different aspects of him.

Mantegna: I think it’s refreshing to see that even with somebody who obviously is a professional, has been in this business as long as Rossi has. As I was thinking about this, I was even thinking the way that [last] season ended and I was in that bunker, the fact that Zach’s character had a tendency, when you went in that bunker or places like that, you never came out. But he put me in a situation where you kind of have to wonder, maybe he could have just killed me. It could have ended it right there, but he didn’t.

So I thought to myself, maybe there’s something even more to that. Even within his mind, he figures, let’s just see how clever this guy is. He did read all my books. So there’s almost like there’s been a mutual admiration in some ways, maybe his admiration for me in some way and my admiration based on this fear or what it’s doing to me. It’s kind of a clash of two people, basically at the top of each of their games in a way.

Rossi’s Visions Continue A Criminal Minds Trend

It Calls Back To The Original Series

Voit’s storyline with Rossi is reminiscent of what the character went through with Everett Lynch. Played by Castle actor Michael Mosley, Lynch was a recurring villain during the show’s original run, serving as the main villain of Criminal Minds season 15. A con artist and serial killer who targeted wealthy women, Lynch also made it his goal to kill Rossi and his wife. In a particularly dark storyline, Lynch had the chance to kill Rossi and take his face as a twisted trophy of sorts, but he chooses not to.

Rossi becomes consumed with catching Lynch, driving him to the point where he almost quits the BAU. Lynch is eventually killed when he tries to escape via a jet, but the latest Criminal Minds: Evolution development shows that Rossi is retreating into old and destructive patterns. Even though the Paramount+ Original consists of fewer episodes than its CBS counterpart, showrunner Erica Messer promises that the revival will take the time to dig deeper into the characters in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2.

The biggest question is how Rossi will react to working with Voit in the long term and what impact it will have on the BAU agent. He doesn’t tell anyone about his visions of the killer and he hasn’t faced Voit in reality since the events of the previous season. There are many more episodes, however, for Criminal Minds: Evolution‘s complex dynamic to unfold.

Source: TV Insider