Criminal Minds’ RJ Hatanaka Reveals If He’s Worried About Tyler’s Death Amid Shocking Show Twists (Exclusive)

Criminal Minds has been raising the stakes this season — but how worried should viewers be about potential onscreen deaths?

RJ Hatanaka spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about whether he is concerned about his character’s future on the show, saying, “I think that I should never get too comfortable. As an actor, I like to live my life as you never really take your foot off the pedal. That’s the way that I’ve been raised and I take a lot of pride in my preparation.”

The actor, 36, hinted that Tyler was likely not in too much danger — for now.

“Given those things, I have a lot of confidence that the character will keep going here,” he teased. “I think that the show is an amazing show. We’re in season 20 now. We’re halfway through filming season 20 and it’s a really nice testament to the fact that the writers keep the audience surprised and entertained in very unique ways. I like to never get too comfortable as a point of pride and I work my ass off to stick around.”

Criminal Minds, which premiered in 2005, follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The crime drama explores different fictional cases and shows how behavioral analysis helps the team locate their unknown subjects.

The original Criminal Minds series was revived by Paramount+ after its initial conclusion in 2020. Criminal Minds: Evolution brought back most of the cast with Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster reprising their roles.

Hatanaka, meanwhile, was introduced as a suspect who has since started to explore a career with the BAU.

“Seeing where Tyler has come from in season 16 where he’s about to end it all and about to lose his mind about so many, many different things to really getting his life saved by Garcia and to having an opportunity to join this team to now learn on the fly,” Hatanaka reflected. “He’s got his badge. He’s a very capable person and has a really unique skillset but he’s not as seasoned as all these guys.”

It will continue to be a learning curve for Tyler, with Hatanaka telling Us, “He needs to really learn on the fly here and we see in season 19 in a really wonderful way the mentorship. In season 19, we really see him try and become a fully integrated member of this team and try and catch up to the speed at which they work.”

He continued: “As we go into the end of season 19 here and into season 20, I’m very excited that he’s starting to get up to speed, which presents him with a new dynamic. So we’re seeing someone becoming something very different in real time. That’s what the fans are responding to and it’s something that for me as an actor, I’m really enjoying playing because it’s rare that you get so many moments to really change in real time.”

Criminal Minds: Evolution airs Thursdays on Paramount+.