If you’re a fan of Criminal Minds: Evolution, you’re likely a fan of Adam Rodriguez’s Luke Alvez. You might even be a fan of Garvez, the ship made up of Alvez and fellow BAU agent Penelope Garcia. But our communities have always found a level of comfort in procedural shows like Criminal Minds, which so many of us have watched over and over again.
What’s about the genre that clicks? Remezcla sat down with Adam Rodriguez to talk about not just this, but also Alvez’s emotional Season 19 storyline and, yes, the ship.
“I think it’s the satisfaction of knowing that most of the time the story’s going to get closed up in the end,” Rodriguez said about why our communities love the genre. “And then when you get a show like ours that’s kind of unique, where we had so many seasons as a show that was on a network where every story was self-encapsulated, and it would have a beginning and an end. If you missed the next one, you could pick up on the one after that.”
But not so much anymore. “We’ve had the good fortune, because of our audience and the love that they have for the show and us as characters, that the show got a second life on a streamer, and the streamer format is a little bit different because you can then serialize it and extend it.”
At the core, it’s still all about the characters and the connections people form with them. “And then, of course, you want to see those characters that you’re connected with succeed. You want to see them win. You want to see them get the bad guys. And the audience, you know, I think gets invested in that storyline as well.”
In Season 19’s second episode, titled “Cluster,” Rodriguez’s character had a big episode as he bid farewell to Roxy, his dog, who had been a big emotional support for him since coming home from the army. And in a procedural, sometimes that can be a little bit of a waiting game. “When you’re on an ensemble, and the ensemble is centered around a procedural storyline, you kind of have to wait till you get the ball passed to you, and it’s OK. You know, you do your job, you deliver on every level. And then, every once in a while, they’re like, OK, your turn. Go ahead. Take it away. And you look forward to those moments.”
Rodriguez will also get to direct an episode later in the season, one which will feature a very famous guest star: Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storie. But Rodriguez is just glad that he gets to play the character, do some work behind the scenes and continue to showcase how being Latino isn’t a one size fits all kinda thing.
“The highlight of the character is not the fact that he’s Latino. He’s doing human being things that are, you know, his job. He’s got feelings that aren’t related specifically to his ethnicity. He’s actually serving the story as one of the driving forces. And he happens to be Latino.”
And for fans of Garvez, fear not, Rodriguez is all in. “I love it. I mean, day one when I got on that show, there were scenes written in that first episode that had to sort of create this dynamic. And the shiniest, happiest person on the show is Garcia. And she was resistant to this new guy coming in because the guy leaving was somebody that she had a very close relationship with.”
“So, there was pressure there because I was like, I know the fans love the two of them together and their dynamic. But we just fell right in and created our own thing. And I love the ship that we have. I love Garcia. I love Garvez.”
New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 are available on Paramount+ on Thursdays.