Criminal Minds spin off

A spin-off was discussed in the third season, but it was put on the back burner when Mandy Patinkin abruptly left Minds. Then the writers' strike truncated Season 3, leading to a longer Season 4 before things settled down this year for the idea to move forward.
Titled "The Fight," the episode takes the BAU team to San Francisco after Cooper, who worked with Hotch (Thomas Gibson) and Rossi (Joe Mantegna) until he went off the grid eight years ago, calls in a favor about a missing father and daughter. Their absences, however, have not been reported, and Cooper must convince Hotch the case is worth his team's time.
"Hotch has to put himself on the line for him, and he does because there's a lot of affection and respect from both sides. There's nothing antagonistic about it at all," Mundy says. "It's two halves of the case coming together. I like the idea of: How do you track a crime that you don't even know exists? And I have two daughters, so I feel like on a subconscious level, I said, 'What would you do to save your daughter?' That's really the core of the episode. It was like a math equation trying to fit our seven characters, their four characters, two halves of the case and this father-daughter relationship in one episode. It was a challenge, but it was fun."
Watch a preview of "The Fight"
The spin-off — currently untitled ("CSI has Miami and N.Y., and NCIS has Los Angeles, but we travel everywhere, so we can't do that!") — would be similar to the original in terms of the crimes, but its style would be distinct. "These guys definitely try to exist free of as much bureaucracy as they can," Mundy says. "It's tough to get darker than [Minds] ... but they'll be a little looser, a little scruffier."
Also unlike the original, which started with Patinkin and Gibson as co-leads, Whitaker's Cooper is the sole "charismatic team leader" — similar to the Academy Award winner's role off-camera. "Forest has been amazing. He was on our crazy wish list, like, 'Wouldn't it be amazing if we could get Forest Whitaker?' ... Next thing you know, he's doing it," Mundy says. "He took it upon himself to get the new cast together a bunch of different times and talk about their relationships as characters and how they interact. I was so impressed at every stage with him."