Criminal Minds' Series Finale Will Be 'Explosive And Transformative'

criminal minds aisha tyler cbs
(Image credit: CBS)

One of the longest-running TV dramas on television will come to an end in the 2019-2020 TV season thanks to the cancellation of CBS' Criminal Minds. The show already ran for 14 seasons of murder, violence, and various degrees of mayhem, and it will wrap with Season 15. Unfortunately for fans, the show that usually debuts a new season each fall is being held until midseason, and only ten episodes are left. The good news is that one star has already revealed an "explosive" series finale, and that's not all.

Aisha Tyler, who has been playing Tara Lewis on Criminal Minds since Season 11, promised that the series finale will be these three things:

[M]assive, explosive and transformative.

Consider me officially intrigued! Not a whole lot has been revealed about the series finale so far, which isn't shocking given that the last season won't even premiere until midseason, so Aisha Tyler's comments to TVLine are promising. It has been confirmed that the finale will be titled "And in the End..."

So, what does it mean for an episode to be "massive, explosive and transformative" at this point? We can only speculate, but I'm most curious that Aisha Tyler used the word "transformative." Criminal Minds can pretty much do anything in the series finale, as it won't need to tell the stories that would develop in the aftermath.

Will characters get happily-ever-afters? Will some die? Will some come to even more dramatic realizations than the bombshell reveal Reid had to face at the end of Season 14? Will Criminal Minds deliver some long-awaited twists because there's no reason to hold off on them anymore?

Whatever happens, we can only hope that Aisha Tyler meant "transformative" in a positive way. Fortunately, she had something promising to say to fans who are hoping for a happy ending:

[L]ots of really good surprises.

The promise of "good surprises" bodes quite well for the final season of Criminal Minds, even if it remains to be seen what any of those surprises are. I think it's safe to say that the Season 14 finale reveal that JJ has feelings for Reid was an effective surprise, as that's hardly the confession many fans could have predicting coming from JJ at this point in the show and in her life.

Only time will tell if that surprise turns out to have been a good one. Reid has a new love interest on the way, but JJ won't exactly be all on her own. She does have a family, and we can bet that the focus of the last season of the series isn't going to be on their relationship. Showrunner Erica Messer has already revealed some of what to expect from the premiere, including a time jump. The big bad of the final season has even already been introduced.

Criminal Minds: Why Each Of The Major Cast Members Left

Criminal Minds will likely return for its fifteenth and final season at some point in early 2020. If that leaves you lacking in TV options -- although there is another long-running CBS drama returning shortly -- you should check out our 2019 fall TV premiere schedule.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).