Is Criminal Minds Based On A True Story? Facts About The Crime Drama TV Show

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There is an increasing number of movies whose story source draws inspiration from real-life events and people whose lives make for an interesting watch. Much of these films are inspired by true personal stories of either tragedies or successes. The Primetime drama series, Criminal Minds is largely presumed to be in this category following its creation of over 300 episodes centered on kidnappings, serial murderers and various other crimes worthy of FBI’s investigations.

Since the end of the last season which was the 14th, core fans of the series are eagerly waiting for the release of the final season of the crime drama TV series to see how it will end. But while we wait, let’s dissect the more pressing concerns of fans regarding whether or not the series is based on real crimes and criminals.

Is Criminal Minds Based On A True Story?

Criminal Minds was created by Jeff Davis and has received praise for beautifully incorporating the police procedural, crime drama, thriller, mystery, and science fiction genres to create a masterpiece. To better bring its intricate plotline to life, the expertise of renown stars was employed and they did not disappoint. The cast members in the leads include Mandy Patinkin as Jason Gideon, Lola Glaudini as Elle Greenaway, Thomas Gibson as Aaron Hotchner, Shemar Moore as Derek Morgan. Others include A.J. Cook, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness, Joe Mantega, Paget Brewster and many others.

Between the showrunner and the show’s executive producers, they have successfully sustained the curiosity of fans until the 14th season which is where the show left off in preparation for the final season. The show has aired a total of 314 episodes so far.

While many await the next roller coaster ride, the growing speculation about the making of the film is that the crime drama TV show might just be based on a true-life story. Despite the speculations, however, Producers of the show have come out to boldly state that the show is not based on a true-life story entirely but rather, some of the show’s inspirations were gotten from real-life criminals and criminal cases. The main characters on the show are all fictional and are not linked to anyone in real life. Though some episodes of the show might have been adopted from similar criminal cases in real life, characters’ names were changed to protect their real identities.

Criminal Mind Episodes Based on True Stories

Carefully following the twisted ways of killings of people in the crime drama series, you probably have been able to figure out which of the episodes are based on real serial killer escapades. But just in case you have not, we’ll help you identify some of these Criminal Minds episodes that are based on real events.

The first known episode which was inspired by a real-life criminal is “Natural Born Killers”, the 8th episode of the show’s first season. The criminal in this episode carried out crimes that were similar to the crimes carried out by (The Iceman) the infamous American hitman convicted of several murder cases.

The show’s 11th episode titled “Blood Hungry” is also similar to the crimes committed by Richard Trenton Chase, aka “The Vampire of Sacramento”. Like in the show, the criminal suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was known for serial killings around Sacramento, California.

On the 14th episode of the show titled “Riding the Lightning”, similar crimes committed by Fred and Rosemary West, the killer couple, were explored. The couple would kill their victims and bury them around their home which became their MO.

Other cases on the show where real-life events and criminals were portrayed and revealed are in “Unfinished Business” (season 1 episode 15), “The Tribe” (season 1 episode 16), “Damaged” (season 3 episode 14), “Omnivore” (season 4 episode 18), “The Big Wheel” (season 4 episode 22), “To Hell…“ (season 4 episode 25), “Our Darkest Hour” (season 5 episode 23) and (The Thirteenth Hour” (season 6 episode 13).

Facts About the Crime Drama TV show

1. The TV show centers around a team of FBI’s behavioural analysis unit operating in Quantico, Virginia.

2. The upcoming 15th season of the show is going to be the last season of Criminal Minds and was supposed to premiere on July 16, 2019, but was shifted to 2020 with no exact date fixed yet.

3. The show’s 4th season has the highest number of episodes (26). The 15th season will have the lowest number of episodes (10), bringing the total number of episodes to 324.

4. The show’s distributors are CBS Television and Disney – ABC Domestic TV Worldwide. The former distributes the show in the United States while the Latter distributes the show worldwide.

5. Criminal Minds is different from other procedural crime drama shows because it focuses on profiling its criminals rather than the crimes they committed.