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Criminal Minds: Evolution fans have been wondering who or what Gold Star is ever since the mysterious phrase was first mentioned toward the end of Season 1. Now that Season 2 is well underway, viewers are finally going to get some answers. Who is Gold Star in Criminal Minds: Evolution? Keep reading to find out.
Who is Gold Star in Criminal Minds: Evolution?
The phrase “Gold Star,” was first brought up in the Season 1 finale during a conversation with prolific serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) and FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey (Nicholas D’Agosto). At the time, it was unclear if Gold Star was a person or the the name of a government operation, but it appeared to be a secret that only Voit and Bailey were aware. Bailey was later shot and killed by Voit, leaving Gold Star even more of a mystery heading into Season 2.
In the two-part Season 2 premiere, the BAU deduced that Gold Star is a government-trained operative who is on a personal mission of revenge. The killer took out an entire strike force sent to eliminate him or her and they’re known for leaving a single bullet casing etched with a five-point star in the chamber of their victim’s weapons. To make matters worse, Voit used information on the serial killer to negotiate a deal that transferred him to federal custody in the BAU’s own backyard.
Now that the BAU must work with Voit to unravel the mystery of Gold Star, fans have even more questions about who the killer could be.
During an interview with TVLine ahead of the Season 2 premiere, showrunner Erica Messer assured fans that the mystery will be solved sooner rather than later. “You’ll know a lot in the premiere,” she said, adding: “But we have layers and layers to this Gold Star story. By Episode 5, you’ve learned even more.”
She also discussed Felicity Huffman’s upcoming guest star role as Dr. Jill Gideon, a brilliant biological psychiatrist and the ex-wife of the late Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin). “She doesn’t come in until [Episode] 7, so there will be a whole lot that happens before that, but I can say she’s brought in as a Gold Star consultant,” Messer teased.
Fans already have their own ideas about who Gold Star could be. In a Reddit thread, several fans theorized that Gold Star is actually a woman and not a man. “I was thinking that it’ll be someone from Emily’s time in the international terrorist unit, considering it was slightly odd that she bought it up,” one fan wrote of Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) the BAU’s Section Chief. Another fan suggested: “It’s definitely some insider or a politician or something, the way the director is covering everything.” A third fan threw out a wild theory, writing: “My theory is Reid. I read somewhere they once talked about him being a villain.” The viewer is referencing beloved OG character Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), who has yet to appear on Criminal Minds: Evolution.
More: See if Matthew Gray Gubler will come back to Criminal Minds: Evolution
The original show ran from 2005 to 2020 and followed a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), using behavioral analysis and profiling to investigate crimes and find perpetrators. Three years after the show ended, the series was revived by Paramount+ as Criminal Minds: Evolution. The new iteration follows a similar format as the original, but with much darker subject matter. It stars original cast members Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster.
New episodes of Season 2 drop every Thursday, so fans will just have to keep tuning in to learn who Gold Star… if they do, in fact, exist. “I believe that there is no Gold Star,” one fan theorized on Reddit. “[Voit] makes people believe there is a unsub out there, trained by the government, doing horrible things to people, making agents obsessed with stopping him, so when they think they found him they end up killing them. But they’re killing innocent people because Gold Star never existed in the first place … That’s why he said they were going to get people killed, because he’s turning them into Gold Star.”
Criminal Minds: Evolution is available to stream on Paramount+.
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