Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 has taken longtime villain Elias Voit in a completely new direction. The first two seasons of the Criminal Minds revival-continuation has seen the BAU battling the serial killer called the Sicarius Killer, only to track down Elias Voit as the killer behind it. With Sicarius creating a network of copycat serial killers, the team was forced to work with Voit in season 2, but he double-crossed them at every turn, even from prison.

Criminal Minds season 3, episode 5, "The Brutal Man." He now has to contend with the fact that everyone in the BAU that he comes across rightfully hates him, and not drowning under the weight of that as more memories resurface.

ScreenRant spoke with Elias Voit actor Zach Gilford about the wild ride of this season. He opened up about not knowing where Voit's story is going, being the Loki of the Criminal Minds universe, his nerves about his sophomore outing as a director, and more.

Zach Gilford Has No Idea Where Elias Voit's Story Is Going Either

"Are You Faking It? Is This Real, Or Is He Faking It?"

ScreenRant: On TV, we see a lot of serial killers like, oh, he was a good family man that suddenly snapped, or he was the normal neighbor. I don't think I've ever seen it go in the opposite direction like this, where you literally get the empathy knocked back into you by a traumatic brain injury.

Zach Gilford: "Yeah, no, I don't know. I've been so lucky this show, each season I've gotten to do something totally different. I Erica, our showrunner, when we were talking about it before we started shooting, she was telling me what was going to happen. She was like, 'I'm going to make everyone feel bad for Voit.' I was like, 'Okay!' So it's just like, it's been fun and it's something different.

I joked last season, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just memorizing lines. I don't know where I am with [Voit's] memory. Everyone keeps asking, 'Are you faking it? Is this real, or is he faking it?' And I'm like, 'I don't know. They didn't tell me!' So yeah, it's been fun and all this stuff.

Even interacting with every one of my castmates is different, which just adds another fun thing to the scene because when you're on a show for a while, you kind of fall in the pocket and it's great, but you're like, 'Cool. Oh, it's a scene between us. I know how we do this,' and now it's like, 'Oh, how does this scene work?'"

When she said, 'We're going to make people like Voight,' were you like, 'Oh, I don't know how we're going to pull that off?' Or was it more like, 'Okay, challenge accepted?'

Zach Gilford: "It was more the latter, and then when she kind of told me what was going on, I was like, 'Oh, wow, you're making this easy on me.' Yeah, I thought it was cool. It was fun. I mean, I've always tried, and I think part of why this character has worked and they've decided to keep him around is, even though he was a bad guy, he's kind of likable now. We're just making him a more sympathetic person as opposed to an entertaining person."

You're sort of the Loki of the Criminal Minds: Evolution universe, just constantly reinventing yourself and going back and forth from hero to villain.

"Oh, wow, I never thought of that! The third timeline, yeah, they're different timelines." [laughing]

Balancing Elias Voit's Past With Who He Is Presently Is Extra Challenging, Gilford Says

"It Kind Of Makes You Look At Yourself And Be Like, Oh, Where Am I A Monster In My Life?"

ScreenRant: I feel like it would be freeing when you can play Elias as a straight-up psychopath, but now you have to carry that weight and that burden of knowing you were a monster. Do you find that there's an extra challenge with that kind of complexity?

Zach Gilford: "I mean, I think the biggest challenge is just whenever you have to do stuff like that – and I'm not someone who takes my work home with me in character and all that – but when you're in those places for a day or a few days, it's heavy and you go home and you're exhausted. And it kind of makes you look at yourself and be like, oh, where am I a monster in my life, and how do I rectify that? [laughing] But yeah, I mean, it's all there on the page, which is really lucky, and I try not to infuse too much that's not actually there. It would distract from what we're trying to get across.

But yeah, I this always just stuck with me: I was doing an episode of the show Off the Map, which was short-lived, and Eric Stoltz was directing an episode, and me and Mamie Gummer are having a walk-and-talk just through the hospital. And he came after take one, and he was like, 'Hey, there's people over there. You don't want them to hear this. There's people over there. There's someone dying there.' And it was like, 'Oh, right.' There's so many things going on, even when it's just me and her talking about getting a beer after work. Let all those things stay there.

So now the heavy version [with Criminal Minds] is, I'm going through this, I'm understanding these things. I'm coming to realize I'm a monster. I'm trying to help people. What do I do? Keeping it all conscious and all there, trying not to lose track of the fact that everything that's going on with him, and there's the security guard right there. Do I want him to hear what I'm saying or not? How does it affect me to break down emotionally in front of strangers?"

And will anything I say be incriminating?

"Why am I handcuffed to a chair?"

Gilford Is Curious To Know If Voit's Personality Change After TBI Is Based On A Real Case

"I Never Thought To Ask, But I Will."

ScreenRant: You've talked in the past about how Voit is very loosely based on real serial killers, like Israel Keyes. Is his trauma recovery storyline also based on a freaky real case, or did you just go, 'TV science!'?

Zach Gilford: "Oh my God, I'm such a bad actor. [laughing] I didn't even think to ask! I'll ask. I don't know. I think, dunno, there's always a nugget of reality in everything they do, and not that they're not completely creative, but I think that's one of the things that makes the show so cool is you get so into it because it's believable because almost all of them are based on real cases or a nugget of something that they extrapolate from. So I never thought to ask, but I will. I'm very curious."

Right. We've seen all these cases with people who have traumatic brain injury, and then suddenly they know how to be a piano virtuoso, or they can speak three different languages, or it completely changes their personality. So it's always rooted in, even if not an exact case, it doesn't stretch the bounds of...

Incredulity, yeah. Exactly!

On His Role Of Elias Voit Growing & Expanding Far Beyond The Initial Plans

"Sweet, I Still Have A Job!"

ScreenRant: When you ed three seasons ago, I imagine it was not supposed to go this route. Could you imagine back then that it might've gone here, and when you found out that they wanted to keep bringing you back, what was that like?

Zach Gilford: "It was great. I mean, I was only supposed to be there for one season, and then towards the end of it, they told me, they're like, 'We don't know exactly how we're going to end the season, but we have decided we're not going to kill you. We want to figure out a way to bring you back.' And in my head, I was like, 'Sweet, I still have a job!' I was very excited, and it's just the best set to be on. It's such a great, amazing job.

But I was also like, 'Okay, well, what are we going to do? And then I loved season 2. It was so fun to just kind of troll everyone the whole time and then build my relationship with AJ's character and Kirsten's character, because, really, all I had anything with for season 1 was Joe. I think a lot of that plays out in season 3 in interesting ways. And yeah, I mean, I never saw this coming. Like I said, to get to do something different every season on a TV show with the same character and make him a different character is such a – it's not normal and it's such a gift. It's just been fun, and it's really cool that they trust me, and that they're like, 'Oh, you know what? I think Zach could act this.' I'm like, 'I'll try!'" (edited)

Gilford Has Established Different Relationships With The Cast Over The Past Three Seasons

"I Just Can't Believe It. I Grew Up Looking Up To Him."

ScreenRant: Is there anybody else in the main cast that you would really love to have scenes with and interact with now that you are Voit version 3.0, now with more empathy?

Zach Gilford: "I love them all. I , I think I had one scene in season 2 where Paget came into my cell, and after the first take I was like, 'That was so cool. Paget's so cool and awesome.' She's such an awesome actress and so fun to work with. And then I have a different relationship with everyone.

Me and Aisha are really, really close, so it would be fun to have stuff with her. Me and Adam are good buddies, so the things that we have had together are a lot of fun. It is kind of like two bros who are fucking with each other. AJ was the first person I met on set and really took me under her wing. And we both have similar family situations, and we're similar ages. So kind of having that emotional connection between those two characters who you wouldn't expect to have one, it's just kind of inherently there.

So yeah, I mean, I'd love to work with anyone getting to do so much with Joe every day. I just can't believe it. I grew up looking up to him. And he's just the best scene partner and just such an amazing guy."

But Gilford Was Also Excited To Have One Of His Own Friends On The Show This Season

"We Have This Rapport Where I Just Love To F*ck With Her."

Gilford was also enthusiastic about getting to work with Aimee Garcia (Lucifer, Dexter), who plays Dr. Julia Ochoa, this season:

Zach Gilford: "And then Amy Garcia, I worked with her on Off The Map! So I walked into the makeup trailer and saw her. I was like, there's no way. And I looked at the call sheet and I literally go, 'Holy shit!' We gave each other a huge hug. And it was really fun because I'm very often kind of isolated and siloed on the show, and I am the new guy. Everyone's so welcoming, and I love them all. But then it was like, oh, I have my own friend here!

So just to have her there, we just have this rapport where I just love to fuck with her. I guess that's all I do to anyone [laughing], but she's such, like, a rule follower and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, everything by the book. And I'm like, 'Amy, who cares? Just have fun.' She's like, 'Well, I don't want to get in trouble!' I'm like, 'You're not going to get in trouble. You're good.'"

Zach Gilford Reveals What Episode He's Directing & How He Feels About It

"I'm Actually More Nervous Than I Was The First Time."

ScreenRant: You got to direct an episode last season with North Star, and it was really well received. Will you be directing anything this season?

Zach Gilford: "I'm doing episode 7 this season!"

Are you excited about that? Do you have ideas about what you'd like to do?

Zach Gilford: "I mean, I don't have the script yet, but I'm really excited. I'm actually more nervous than I was the first time, I think because the first time went so well, and I lucked out because my script was one where... I mean, literally, of all the scripts I've read of Criminal Minds: Evolution, that one I connected to the most, that one was the most like, 'I know how to do this. I know how to make this episode.' So I'm nervous. What's my script going to be like this time? And I lucked into just an amazing cast on my episode, who kind of were the force behind it, between Felicity [Huffman] and Liana [Liberato] and David [Garelik]. And so, yeah, I'm nervous, but I'm excited.

I mean, the only thing I really do is I keep a playlist of songs where I'm like, 'This is cinematic,' and I put it in my directing playlist [laughing]. Then when I read the script, it's like, 'Oh, that song could work.' Or I'm like, 'Oh man, I got to find a song here.' I love that they gave me the freedom in my episode to really use music in a way that they don't tend to very often on the show. It's not like they don't play songs, but I don't know, I just love that kind of filmmaking, and they let me lean into it, and they were happy with it, and it's just so ive. Erica [Messer, the showrunner] was like, 'Just go make your episode, make it the way you want to make. You can't deviate too far from Criminal Minds, but make your version of Criminal Minds.' So it was fun."

New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 are released Thursdays on Paramount+.

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