Today, the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution premiered. The thrilling series follows the Behavioral Analysis Unit as they catch the worst of the worst serial killers. Season two picks up with the mystery of Gold Star. Meanwhile, the profilers are not happy as serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) is back and transferred to local federal custody after negotiating a deal.

Star AJ Cook, who plays the part of Jennifer Jareau recently spoke with SciFi Vision about her character’s confrontation with Voit this season. “JJ gets to kind of go head to head with Voit, and there's sort of an interesting vibe between the two of them, I guess you could say,” said Cook, adding that they’ve really met their match with Voit. “[H]e is truly a talented profiler…he’s intelligent and is really good at reading people and getting into the minds of people.” 

This season, some of the characters have the added stress of having to work with their exes, one being Dr. Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler). 

 “I think it's dealing with a lot of really compelling concepts,” said Tyler of her character being forced to work with ex Rebecca (Nicole Pacent). “Workplace relationships are real, but the stakes are a lot higher when the work that you're doing requires you to set those emotions aside and focus on what's what's critical,” she added, calling Pacent an “amazing actress” and a “lovely force on set,” and saying that she thinks people will enjoy their characters’ journey this season. 

Ryan-James Hatanaka’s character, Tyler Green, returns this season and is forced to work with his ex as well, Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness). Although it’s very stressful for her, not as much so for him. “[A]t the end of the day, I think he's really happy to see Penelope and get in there and and get to work and kind of contribute,” said the actor, adding that Tyler was in a “rough place” when they met and had a lot of positive changes from that relationship. 

During the interview, Cook also spoke about directing the second episode of the season while the two actresses talked about a scene they filmed with her. 

For more, watch the full interview below. The first two episodes are available to stream now on Paramount+ and new episode drop each Thursday.