Criminal Minds appeared to take an enormous risk by killing off a very important character in a gruesome death scene.
Through the Thursday, June 18, episode of the Paramount+ show, Voit’s (Zach Gilford) biggest fan kidnapped Lance (Connor Storrie) and used him to get answers from the BAU. Members of the organization — and Voit — listened as a improper answer changed into Lance being brutally tortured. The decision then went dead, which appeared to hint Lance could possibly be too.
Storrie, 26, joined the show earlier this 12 months after his breakout role on Heated Rivalry.
Based on Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry follows two rival skilled hockey players, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is only a front for his or her secret — and really passionate — romance.
The show premiered on Crave in November 2025 before becoming available to an excellent wider audience through HBO Max earlier this 12 months. It wasn’t long before readers showed their support for the variation via social media as Williams and Storrie’s popularity took off.
Storrie, meanwhile, filmed scenes for season 19 of Criminal Minds that eventually became a multi-episode arc. Showrunner Erica Messer recently teased to Us Weekly that Storrie’s character will play a very important role relating to the villain of this season.
“Connor gets introduced in episode 4,” she confirmed. “His story does have something to do with the massive bad of the season, but — without wanting to provide much away — that’s all I’ll say.”
While looking ahead on the season, Messer teased the vision for this installment.
“It’s this concept of latest beginnings. It’s been a 12 months in our story world,” the screenwriter noted. “So there are latest challenges that they’re faced with — but there’s also a bit little bit of hope in that. It has the potential for higher things to return.”
Messer also revealed whether Storrie’s costar Williams, 25, would make an appearance next.
“Trust me, we looked [into it],” she told Us. “We were like, ‘Is he available?’”
The thought didn’t work out because Williams is just too booked and busy, with Messer adding, “He’s shooting the second season of Heated Rivalry in August and that’s once we would want them. We tried.”
Criminal Minds: Evolution airs Thursdays on Paramount+.