Paramount+ Has Chance To Fix Criminal Minds Mistake Made By CBS Years Ago

Summary

• The transition from CBS to Paramount+ changed a lot about Criminal Minds.
• Now that Season 2 of Evolution is in production, fans are hoping for one more alteration.
• They're asking showrunner Erica Messer and her creative team to give BAU head Emily Prentiss an arc that has been canon since day one of the show, but was cut by CBS executives.

Criminal Minds: Evolution has become a real reload for the fan-favorite crime procedural. The move from CBS to Paramount+ has added some much-needed gore and plausibility to the work of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, which hunts down the country's most dangerous serial killers.

In addition, the change in format from 'monster of the week' to season-long investigation allowed the writers to focus more on the personal lives of the fan-favorite agents working in the BAU.

While Season 1 of the reboot delved deeper into the personal lives of Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia, David Rossi and Tara Lewis, there was one character whose life outside of work remained a mystery.

And we hope that Season 2 will not only fill that void, but also correct the mistake that CBS made years ago.

Emily Prentiss was initially written as a lesbian

Ever since Paget Brewster's Emily Prentiss joined the BAU in Season 2 of the original show, fans have read her as queer-coded. So no one was surprised when reports surfaced that Prentiss was originally written as a lesbian and had a scene where she woke up next to a woman.

If anything, fans were disappointed that it didn't happen, and began rooting for Emily's pairings with various female characters on the show.

Brewster confirmed that she was on board with her character being LGBTQ+ in the interview with Criminal Minds Fans.

'Prentiss being a lesbian was an idea brought up by Ed Bernero when he ran Criminal Minds years ago and I said yes. I don't remember why that story idea went away but I embrace everything our writers create. I would be happy to play Emily as bisexual or gay because I trust our team would do it well and honorably,' the actress said.

While Brewster didn't reveal the reason why Prentiss' original arc was changed, various reports say that CBS scrapped the idea and demanded a heteronormative rewrite that gave Prentiss a couple of unconvincing heterosexual relationships.

Apparently, the queer character was too much for broadcasting in the early 2000s. But now that the show has moved to a streaming platform, the writing team, led by showrunner Erica Messer, has a chance to fix Prentiss' arc.

Fans hope for a queer turn for Prentiss in the future

Evolution has already shown that it is ready to explore queer relationships for its characters. In Season 1, Tara Lewis had a same-sex affair with Rebecca Wilson, a cutthroat FBI prosecutor.

But that is not enough for long-term fans, they want Emily to finally have a queer relationship as well. There is even a petition online asking Paramount and the show's creators to honor the canon and let Prentiss embrace her sexuality, which has been evident from day one.

Well, it looks like we have a lot to look forward to in Season 2 of Evolution, right?

Sources: Criminal Minds Fans, Ultimate Pop Culture Wiki, CBR, Change.org.