Criminal Minds: Evolution: Rodriguez Discusses S19, Luke, Voit & More

Posted in: CBS, Paramount+, TV | Tagged: Criminal Minds, criminal minds: evolution

Criminal Minds: Evolution: Rodriguez Discusses S19, Luke, Voit & More

Criminal Minds: Evolution star Adam Rodriguez on what we can look forward to with Luke Alvez in Season 19, Voit's evolving role, and more.

Published Sat, 30 May 2026 19:37:10 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Adam Rodriguez previews Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19, explaining how Luke Alvez stays fresh after several seasons.
• Rodriguez shares why Erica Messer has shaped his Criminal Minds journey since joining the BAU in 2016.
• Luke faces grief after Roxy’s loss, opening deeper emotional beats and new sides of the Criminal Minds profiler.
• Elias Voit’s advisory role sparks BAU conflict, with Luke firmly opposing trust in the Criminal Minds killer.

When Adam Rodriguez wrapped up his run on CSI: Miami after 10 seasons in 2012, it didn't take him long to hop back on the procedural train and beloved franchise with Criminal Minds, joining the Jeff Davis-created series in 2016 as FBI profiler Luke Alvez, filling in for the departing Shemar Moore, who played Derek Morgan since the premiere. It made for an easy transition as the actor returned after the original series ended in 2020, and the Paramount+ continuation of the Evolution era continued with showrunner Erica Messer in control, as he was one of her first hires for the series. Entering season 19, there's a lot still for Luke to do, including coping with heartbreaking loss and now having to rely on one of the series's nefarious villains in Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) as a resource to help take on the Sicarius Network of serial killers. Rodriguez spoke to Bleeding Cool on how he's kept his performance as Luke, fresh after eight seasons, what it means working with Messer as showrunner, conflicting feelings within BAU about Voit as a resource, and what he's taken from his experience from the Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, and Anthony E. Zuiker-created series into Criminal Minds. The following contains spoilers.

Criminal Minds: Evolution: Adam Rodriguez Talks Luke Alvez, Voit & More

BC: What's the secret to keeping things fresh as Luke Alvez entering your eighth season?

Rodriguez: I think really just approaching every day as like a new day. It's just like it would be for a real profiler. You show up every time we get an episode, we don't know what's coming, and it's always exciting to crack open a script and see what the writers have in store. That, itself, keeps it fresh, and you know I think I gotta give all the credit to the writers. The writers just keep it fresh. They really do.

Did you ever get a chance to work with Jeff Davis? How has it been working with Erica Messer as the showrunner in your time on the show?

What's interesting is Jeff had never been, in my time on the show, was never the show runner. Erica's been the showrunner that I've had from the beginning and she was the one who made the decision to hire me. When I met Erica, Shemar Moore was leaving the show and they wanted to bring on a new cast member, I met with Erica. We had what was supposed to be a 45-minute meeting that turned into five hours. It was just a whole day of hanging out and it just felt great. I was welcomed into the cast and been going ever since, but it's always been with Erica, fortunately for me. I'm sure Jeff is great, but I wouldn't want anybody else but Erica.

What are some of the biggest challenges for Luke this season, and did you have a favorite moment from last season?

Yeah, some of the biggest challenges for Luke this season, I would say, some really emotional challenges Luke is dealing with, Luke ends up dealing with some real loss [with losing his dog, Roxy]. With that loss, you don't realize how alone you might actually feel yourself oftentimes until you're faced with the loss of other people, of other things that matter to you, and the audience is going to get to see Luke wrestle with that, try and process that, get help from friends who love him, and want reach out and make sure that he knows he's not alone. All of that was exciting to have a chance to do that as an actor, and I think the audience is going to love this season. There are some great emotional arcs for all the characters. Yeah, getting it going in the beginning, the audience gets to know Luke in a way that they haven't before.

Working with Zach Gilford's character, Elias Voit, this season, since he's in an advisory role, and how does that affect the BAU, and how Zach worked his character dynamic into the cast?

Yeah, it makes things interesting because I think the more we get to know Voit, the more people are torn about how much of a human being they see him as, and that creates a little bit of discourse. Some people feel more compassion for him than others, and others might get conflicted about whether he's all good or all bad…I'm sorry, definitely "not all good," but how good and bad he is. I think Luke is pretty crystal clear in his thinking. He just thinks through and through, Voit is evil, and that we shouldn't be dealing with him at all, but he recognizes he adds value in helping us get to other people, and we're trying to mine him for that value. However, there's a fine line between getting what we see as value from him and then also humanizing him in a way that allows us to forget all of the horrible things that he's done. There's some conflict between us about how to approach that, but we work through it.

You've been a part of another long-running franchise with a series with CSI: Miami, and I was wondering, was there anything from that time that was an invaluable thing that you brought from your time on that show that helped you the most on Criminal Minds, and how do you compare being part of both families?

Absolutely. You learn something every day, no matter what you're doing, if you're paying attention. I do my best to pay attention and try and learn something every day, and I learned a lot in the 10 years I was on CSI: Miami, a lot about what it takes to show up every day and be consistent about delivering your best performance and how to be a real professional, interact with people, and bring the right energy to a set. I'd like to think I've carried those things forward here with me to Criminal Minds, and it's part of the reason I was able to jump and fit in with the cast, right out the gate.

Those things have been really valuable lessons, and I think every experience teaches you something. What I'm learning every day on Criminal Minds and the group that we work with makes it easy and teaches us how to sustain that good feeling, because it's very clearly there for all of us, and we're all enjoying it. We love being there on set every day, and when you put the effort in to show up in a positive way, and luckily, it's a place that is very easy to do that. We're all about to sustain for as long as possible because it's just a great place to show up and work every day.

The new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which also stars Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, RJ Hatanaka, and Paget Brewster, premieres May 28th on Paramount+.

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