'Criminal Minds' season 12 spoilers news: CBS officially green-lights full season order, premiere date likely to be around September 2016
Fans of "Criminal Minds" can breathe freely now, as CBS already confirmed that the show will indeed have a 12th season. This is after the veteran series concluded this week without a full season order, since previous reports claim that the execs were still negotiating the contracts during that time.
According to E! Online, CBS officially announced a full season order for the long-running popular police procedural series. Moreover, the network also confirmed that the show remains to be one of the top players in terms of ratings, as it clocked in a whopping average of 12 million viewers plus a "2.8 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic."
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the key to the renewal was the network being able to work out a lower license fee for the show. The deal was agreed upon by CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios.
In a recent interview with TV Guide, executive producer Erica Messer shared their plans for season 12, stating:
"All the writers are on hiatus until June, but we wanted to get a jumpstart on what we think the shape of the season will be. It's going to be a really fun, different year. I think, creatively, we're both really excited. I feel like with our amazing fan base who watches every week, you can get away with a little more serialized storytelling than when we started the series. We're excited to catch these bad guys all over again. Some we will have known, like Mr. Scratch, and others will be bad guys that maybe some of the team hasn't caught before. That allows us to have some creative license. And of course there will be our case of the week that may or may not be running parallel with catching a guy who escaped. I feel like, going into Season 12, we've had more opportunities for stories than we've had in a really long time."
As of the moment, CBS has not yet given an official statement regarding the premiere date for "Criminal Minds" season 12. Based on the previous seasons, the show is highly likely to premiere sometime around September.
