Getting to play a fictional serial killer has allowed Zach Gilford to stretch his acting muscles — but there is a certain story line he isn’t interested in exploring on Criminal Minds.
“[On Friday Night Lives] we didn’t contrive of ways for every character to stay around for five seasons. That was sad for the audience and it was sad for us as people to have our friends leave the show — but I think it’s part of what made that show good,” Gilford, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly. “And [on Criminal Minds] they found ways to make it make sense for Voit to stick around.”
Gilford didn’t think it would make sense for Voit to go from a villain to a hero.
“As opposed to like, ‘Well, he’s good and he is an FBI agent now,’” Gilford noted before revealing his only “no” when it comes to possible arcs. “I can’t talk about computers. I can’t talk about evidence.”
Ahead of season 3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, Gilford recalled filming a scene, saying, “I have one scene because Voit was a tech guy and he created his own network. There’s one point where I am talking about motherboards and computer circuits. I was like, ‘No, never again. I don’t want to do that. You can kill my character instead. I can’t do computer talk.’”
The first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution (a.k.a season 16 of OG Criminal Minds series) introduced Voit as the main antagonist. The BAU spent the entire season hunting down the prolific killer, who they nicknamed Sicarius after linking him to 62 murders — and for being the mastermind behind setting up an online network of fellow serial killers.
After Voit was arrested — for a single murder — he became a professional criminal consultant for the BAU. It remains to be seen where Criminal Minds will take Voit’s story this season, after he was attacked in prison and presumably left for dead.
“I was supposed to leave the show a while ago and I’ve been pitching, ‘Well, I have to leave at some point. If you’re not going to kill me, we should have a spinoff,’” Gilford quipped. “It’s called Criminal Mind: Voit and it follows what Voit is doing when he is out in the world. Somehow he either escapes or he gets released and he is this white whale to the BAU. So Criminal Minds can keep going and having their freak of the week — but they’ll always be like, ‘I wonder if Voit had something to do with this.’”
Jokes aside, Gilford is grateful for his experience on the Criminal Minds set. He specifically pointed out how collaborative the process has been while working alongside showrunner Erica Messer. Another fun behind-the-scenes fact? Criminal Minds was one of Gilford’s first auditions as an actor.
“When I was 21 in New York — fresh out of college — I auditioned and it was called Quantico. It was for the pilot. I was like, ‘I’ll be on a CBS show for 15 years. It’s going to be great.’ I didn’t even get a call back and the show went on for 15 years,” he revealed, before poking fun at how he presumably auditioned for the role of Spencer Reid, “I wonder if that’s why I’m so resentful of Matthew [Gray Gubler].”
While Gilford ultimately scored the scene-stealing role of Voit, he doesn’t necessarily see the character the way viewers might.
“No matter what [role] it is, I try to make people like the character. No matter what they’re doing or how bad they are. It’s fun, especially with someone like a serial killer. Or even when I worked on Good Girls, I was a guy who cheated on his pregnant wife and I was like, ‘But I want everyone to like me,’” he quipped to Us. “The thing is just about making people likable and to draw you in.”
Gilford continued: “I feel very, very fortunate and lucky — especially as the guy who started out as Matt [Saracen on Friday Night Lights] — the nicest guy in the world. For a long time, all anyone wanted me to do was be the nice guy. I am still kind of being the nice guy [but] I just happen to have done bad things [on screen as Voit].”
New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution air Thursdays on Paramount+.
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