Kirsten Vangsness and Adam Rodriguez Reveal What's Really Happening on 'Criminal Minds: Evolution'

What started out as a hate-like work relationship between Penelope Garcia ( Kirsten Vangsness ) and Luke Alvez ( Adam Rodriguez ) back in 2016 (Season 12) of Criminal Minds, evolved into a beautiful, if platonic relationship.

So much so that the two went on a dinner date after the Criminal Minds finale only for viewers to discover when Criminal Minds: Evolution premiered that they decided they would be better off as friends and have since developed a more amicable relationship.

“I would say that so far, I love the journey of this relationship wherever it’s going to go,” Rodriguez told Parade on a Zoom call to promote the new season. “Every step along the way has felt like something very natural and something that was genuinely earned.”

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Rodriguez joined the cast when there was an opening on the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) team created by the departure of Derek Morgan ( Shemar Moore ), but he was in no way a replacement for the S.W.A.T. actor. Luke Alvez is his own man.

“When I showed up on the scene, Derek Morgan had left and the fans, I’m sure, were hurting for that,” he continues. “As was Garcia. Here was this new guy showing up. You just didn’t want to like him because it felt like he was taking the place of somebody else.”

Moore’s departure threw a major wrench into Penelope’s on-screen time. A big part of what Garcia and Morgan did was playful sexual banter on the phone, and, initially, she didn’t know what her role would be without him.

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“Honestly, as an actor I owed so much to Shemar because I don’t think that Garcia existed in the construct that she did without him,” Vangsness tells Parade. “So, I felt really freaked out when he was gone because I was like, ‘They don’t need me, I’m not necessary anymore because he’s gone.’”

But once she analyzed the situation, Vangsness realized that wasn’t the case. Garcia was an important part of the team, and she decided when Alvez joined the BAU, they would have a completely different relationship than she had with Morgan.

“It was like, ‘I’m my own thing, I’ve got to figure out my own thing,’ which is exactly how it should be,” she says. “I was happy to do it because a lot of different women could be like, ‘Gosh, he likes her because she’s charming and sparky.’ He’s not looking at her and going, ‘This is something,’ but yet there’s something there and I valued that in its own independent thing.”

So, the relationship that began rocky between Garcia and Alvez has evolved into an adult friendship. In fact, watching the two of them together in the first two episodes of Season 2 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, it’s more like they’re brother and sister and look out for each other.

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“We just fell into this very natural chemistry, and we had this banter that was sincere and full of chemistry and full of this genuine like for each other,” Rodriguez adds. “I think we hit it off right away, as well.”

The writers noticed and played to it, so that over time Garcia and Alvez were able to make it into their own thing. And luckily, the audience has gone along for the ride, possibly realizing how difficult it can be to be in a romantic relationship with a co-worker. That said, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t some sexual tension between the two.

“I think it’s important after the world in which we all have to go to these sexual harassment meetings, it’s important to still be able to have a deep undercurrent of sexual tension without overtly doing it so it doesn’t disturb the room,” Vangsness adds. “But yet, you still have it. I think that that’s what’s happening maybe. That’s what I think.”

Criminal Minds: Evolution drops new episodes weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+.

Next, There's a New Big Bad When Criminal Minds: Evolution Returns for Season 2