In devastating news for me specifically, it was announced that the upcoming 20th season of Criminal Minds will be its last. What’s worse is that they had already finished filming the series by the time this news broke, and this abrupt cancellation means we won’t even get a proper series finale, even though there will have been over 370 episodes by the time the new season finishes airing. It feels like a slap in the face this show doesn’t deserve!

Now, there’s always the chance another network saves them from oblivion; it’s happened once before. The first 15 seasons of the show aired on CBS from 2005-2020, but then two years later it was revived as Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+ without much structural change. We still had most of the same characters, only now they could say “fuck”, which they did with much aplomb. It is also in this Evolution series that Nicole Pacent joined the show as Rebecca Wilson, who became a love interest for long-standing member of the BAU family Tara Lewis, played by Aisha Tyler.

The shortening from 22 episodes to 10 was a hard one to bear, but I was grateful for anything after that two-year dark period. The bonus gayness didn’t hurt. Unfortunately, this did lead to some disappointing side effects, like the fact that Tara and Rebecca got married entirely off-screen between seasons. Back in my day, there would have been a whole lesbian wedding Very Special Episode. But alas. They were still together and still had some scenes together, and that’s what mattered!

The show also had some behind-the-scenes queerness, with Nicole Pacent and Aisha Tyler being queer in real life (at least, I think Aisha Tyler is queer…she has said vague things like “I like everybody” and “I think everyone is a little bit gay” so I’m going with yes for now), and also Kirsten Vangsness who has played Garcia throughout the entire run of the show is queer as well.

Of course, I can’t talk about Criminal Minds queerness without also talking about the crack ship that has been taunting us for decades now: JJ and Emily, or, lovingly, “Jemily.” Long before we had any canon queerness on the show (for which we are very grateful!!) we had JJ and Emily and their “history will call them best friends” relationship. Every once in a while since the creators caught wind, they would throw us a crumb, like the time they got high together. I might miss them most of all. At least we’ll always have fanfic.

I’m especially sad because it seemed like we were maybe finally moving past the Sicarius storyline that had played itself out, and maybe even contributed to its cancellation. I think this show could still have many more seasons left in it, if someone new would give them a chance. Shonda? You busy?

Until then, we have one last season to enjoy and savor before we have to say goodbye to our beloved BAU once again.

More Gay News for You

+ Queer, nonbinary actor Olive Gray plays disaster lesbian Sam on upcoming British-Canadian sitcom It Gets Worse about a group of friends living in London and trying to survive their 20s

+ In devastating news for me specifically, Criminal Minds was cancelled abruptly between seasons, meaning we won’t even get a proper series finale unless yet another network saves them from oblivion

+ Bisexual actress Inde Navarrette hosted SNL this weekend

+ Phoebe Bridgers, Miley Cyrus, and Linda Perry are among the nominees for the Hollywood Music in Media awards

+ The good news is, Pluribus finally started filming season two; the bad news, is, we might not see it until 2028…

+ Isabela Merced will be playing Lorena Bobbitt in the upcoming season of Good American Family on Hulu

+ Chrishell Stause and G Flip broke up in part because the distance between California and Australia got the better of them

+ All’s Fair returns for a second season this week with Sarah Paulson, Niecy Nash-Betts, and the rest of the cast all reprising their roles

+ Sophia Bush would like to remind you her relationship did not begin with cheating, no matter what the tabloids tried to tell you

+ Amy Poehler has a new workplace comedy coming out called Dig, from the creators of Parks & Rec, and my queer-adjacent news to provide an excuse for me including it here is that the cast includes Geraldine Viswanathan who played queer in Drive-Away Dolls and Fia Strazza who played queer on the too-short TV show Paper Girls

+ If you’re looking for something to watch, check out what’s new and gay and streaming this month