‘Criminal Minds’ Makes Shocking Revelation About Penelope Garcia in Surprise Voit Twist

Criminal Minds kept the surprises coming with a huge twist that could change the direction of the season.

During the Thursday, June 25, episode of the Paramount+ series, Brian (Paul F. Tompkins) revealed to the BAU that an FBI agent’s testimony is what led to Voit (Zach Gilford) being sentenced to life in prison instead of the death penalty.

The BAU didn’t know that one of their own secretly supported Voit’s rehabilitation — until Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) ultimately revealed it was her. This news left everyone shocked, but Rossi (Joe Mantegna) took it the worst as a divide was created amongst the BAU agents.

Criminal Minds, which premiered in 2005, follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The crime drama explores different fictional cases and shows how behavioral analysis helps the team locate their unknown subjects.

The original Criminal Minds series was revived by Paramount+ after its initial conclusion in 2020. Criminal Minds: Evolution brought back most of the cast with Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster reprising their roles. Other key characters — such as Matthew Gray Gubler’s Reid — have made cameos.

The first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution (a.k.a. season 16 of the OG Criminal Minds series) introduced Voit as the main antagonist. The BAU spent the entire season hunting down the prolific killer, who they linked to 62 murders and was the mastermind behind setting up an online network of fellow serial killers.

Voit’s status as the villain was left up in the air when earlier this season he had significant memory loss that caused him to no longer be labeled as a psychopath. Gilford and the rest of the Criminal Minds cast have acknowledged that Voit can’t remain on the show for good.

“I was supposed to leave the show a while ago and I’ve been pitching, ‘Well, I have to leave at some point. If you’re not going to kill me, we should have a spinoff,’” Gilford, 44, quipped exclusively to Us Weekly in May 2025. “It’s called Criminal Mind: Voit and it follows what Voit is doing when he is out in the world. Somehow he either escapes or he gets released and he is this white whale to the BAU. So Criminal Minds can keep going and having their [unsub] of the week — but they’ll always be like, ‘I wonder if Voit had something to do with this.’”

While Gilford returned in his scene-stealing role in season 19, he previously said he is just focused on where Voit is now.

“No matter what [role] it is, I try to make people like the character. No matter what they’re doing or how bad they are. It’s fun, especially with someone like a serial killer. Or even when I worked on Good Girls, I was a guy who cheated on his pregnant wife and I was like, ‘But I want everyone to like me,’” he told Us. “The thing is just about making people likable and to draw you in.”

Gilford continued: “I feel very, very fortunate and lucky — especially as the guy who started out as Matt [Saracen on Friday Night Lights] — the nicest guy in the world. For a long time, all anyone wanted me to do was be the nice guy. I am still kind of being the nice guy, [but] I just happen to have done bad things [on screen as Voit].”

Criminal Minds: Evolution airs Thursdays on Paramount+.