is best known for her role as Emily Prentiss on the crime procedural . It ran for 15 seasons on CBS and was revived as on Paramount+, and has since been renewed for an 18th season. In December, the Audible Original Podcast, , was released. Brewster lends her voice to the audio podcast, as Dr. Veronica Chapel, a disgraced astrophysicist now teaching high school. After the release of the Audible Original, I sat down with Brewster to talk about her journey to the project, how it differs from previous voice acting work, and what's to come for Criminal Minds: Evolution.

PAGET BREWSTER: Oh, thank you! I'm so glad to hear that because I was so excited when I auditioned for it. I just read the first episode, and I was like, “I believe! I'm a believer. I need to do this.” I offered to audition twice because I wasn't sure I nailed it the first time, and I loved it. I'd never done an Audible Original before. I'd never done a scripted podcast. I didn't know what they were like. I thought the story was fascinating. I don't know what's out there. I have some theories that there is more to life than just the humans and animals that we all see, but what is it? Where is it? Who is it? It’s fascinating to me. So I was just so excited when I read the first episode, and I was really thrilled that they cast me.

BREWSTER: Yeah, in animated features like DC []. I started doing [The Series] in 1998. It was an animated show on Fox. I think that was my first animated job. I've done a couple of true crime podcasts, some narration for a Disney series, and a lot of animation voices, , working with other actors.

We recorded this at the end of July of 2023, and it was during the actors’ and writers’ strike, so everybody was nervous about, “What’s happening to our business, and am I ever going to work again?” When I auditioned for The Signal, it was really exciting once we found out, “Oh, you're allowed to do it.” Because I thought, “Wait a minute there. Now, they want me to do The Signal, but I don't know if I'm allowed to do The Signal because we're on strike.” But it's a totally different thing. Voice acting is completely separate from what the actors’ strike and the writers’ strike were about, so we were fine to do it.

We recorded at this place called Studio Awesome, which is very close to my house, so that was really exciting. Almost all of the other work that I do, my husband and I record at home. We have a home studio, and he's the engineer and records my voice. So, this was the first time I'd gone to a studio throughout the pandemic. It had been a year since I'd been recording in a recording studio, and I love the studio. And was there, who plays Malcolm in The Signal, but we were in separate recording studios in the facility, so we couldn't see each other. We were looking at each other on Zoom, and all of the other actors were joining us on Zoom. So you're in a recording studio by yourself on Zoom, looking at everybody, which is sort of the same thing as how it works when I record from home, so it was all technology that I was comfortable with and excited about. Our microphones were separated so we could see each other on Zoom and hear each other in the headphones, but our audio tracks, our voice tracks, were all being recorded separately so that they could be edited together by , who directed us. He was also the editor, and he did the soundtrack, so that's why it took another year and a half to be put together and come out.

BREWSTER: It's definitely changed. Voice acting work used to be you would have 10 or 15 actors all in the same room with music stands in the same large recording facility. Everyone had a separate mic and a separate music stand, and you would see the director through a window in the engineering booth. You could hear the director, and everybody would read the script from beginning to end. If the director wanted another take of a line, they would say, “Okay, stop. We're going to do an ABC and billboard the word ‘Godzilla,’” and one at a time, everybody did all of their dialogue together. Definitely since the pandemic, but even before, people started recording separately so that you were very rarely in a room recording voice work with another person.

The last time I did that was when I was on a series called Dan Vs., and the last person I recorded with in person was , who was playing a villain. He and I were sitting in the same room, looking at each other, recording this animated show together, and he was just masterful. I'm sure he's done a bunch of Audible Originals. He must have. His voice is exceptional. He's excited. He's so talented. I think he played the [Joker] in for something like 16 years or 17 years. He's just remarkable to watch and just has incredible control over his voice. He could scream and then be quiet, and he knows how to work the microphone, going close to it and backing off from it. Watching him work in person was like a master class.

Now everything is separate. Maybe that's just because people are working on different projects and people are all over the world or in different states, and so the only way to voice record is to record people separately now. It was great while it lasted, but at least now we have Zoom, so we can see each other and interact with each other and see each other's facial expressions. There's a way to overlap dialogue, and the engineer is able to isolate the voice tracks, so you never have to worry about keeping your partner in a scene. You don't have to keep their line clean. You can have a reaction or improvise or make yes or no noises.

Especially with the Audible Original, you're only recording sound, and you listen to it like a radio play. One of the really interesting things that , the director, had us do was—and I'd never experienced this, having never done an Audible Original podcast before—he said, “You have to keep the scene alive.” So right now, Veronica Chapel, my character, is walking down the street and going to pick up her cell phone and call somebody. But in order to keep the person alive, he said, “While you're walking, just make noises.” That was really interesting and kind of funny. It feels a little awkward, but I understand why it works. It's its own way of performing, and so it was exciting. It was exciting to learn something totally new, and I hope I pulled it off! You listened to it. Did you feel that we were present with you?

BREWSTER: Oh, that's really cool. I didn't think of that. Good!

BREWSTER: Oh, that's the most flattering thing you could say. I'm touched and impressed that you listened to it, and I really, really appreciate it. That's just great. I love it. Thank you for saying all that stuff. That's great.

BREWSTER: No, that was in the script and written by . I was really impressed by that because I think he did have such a clear idea. There were a couple of other writers, and ; they completely knew who Veronica Chapel was. That's not something I figured out. They had everything in the script, which is why I wanted it so badly. She was such a completely clear person, and I understood the conflict. Me personally, Paget, in the past, I've been right about something but strident and egotistical and enraged in being right, and it can end up hurting you if that's the thing that you hold more important than anything else. that you are right if that’s your conviction.

So, how do you make the decision? Even though I was right, was there another way to see it? Is something else going on that, in being right, I've closed my eyes to? It's just a fascinating human… Is it a failing, or is it conviction? That question was really interesting to me, and that was completely in the script, and I was directed to think about that and struggle with it. I personally have struggled with it, so maybe I was the best person to cast. I don't know. I hope so. But it was definitely in the script, and I'm so glad that you noticed that. I hope I answered your question because I found that very, very, very compelling and human, and I'm really glad that you noticed that. Thank you.

BREWSTER: I love the show Ancient Aliens, and they cover a lot of SETI and the study of astronomy and the star systems, so I did have a baseline understanding. For an actor, mostly, it's, “Am I pronouncing this word correctly?” So I had a baseline understanding of that and the idea of the search for extraterrestrial life or unidentified anomalous phenomena, or however you want to look at what are the possibilities of other forms of life and other species possibly living on this planet in a different dimension or coming from other planets? Then, what are we? Are we like a way station for other species that there has not been a full disclosure of yet? Are we a pit stop? Are we a rest stop on the way to another galaxy for interstellar travelers? Who knows? So as far as the science aspect of it,

They were so well-versed. Clearly, they created the series so they knew everything inside and out about the characters and their desires and their fears and their motivations, and where they came from. I certainly don't; I don't have a doctorate in astronomy or science. They answered everything, and It was a really collaborative effort, and everybody was extremely supportive and fun and having a really good time. It was a great atmosphere. I'd love to do another one, but for Audible Originals.

BREWSTER: That's very kind of you to say, Marisa, and please tell all of your friends I said hello. We love it. We love it. When Criminal Minds was canceled at CBS, I still felt like, “ People seem to really like this show.” So when we started talking with Paramount+ during the pandemic, “Would you guys be interested in doing the show again?” All of us immediately said yes. We said, “If it's us and it's our showrunner, yes. If it's people we don't know, no. It's got to be us. It has to be this group of people, as many actors as we can get from the CBS series.” And it's still owned by CBS. Paramount+ is where a lot of CBS shows are.

We knew how fortunate we were. We knew how excited we were about getting to do the show again and in a slightly different way. I don't know if you've seen any of the Criminal Minds: Evolution, but they are a little different. We're honoring the original show and who the people are, but we're able to take a little bit more time with storytelling. We're able to do more interesting shots because it's not as rigid a schedule as network television, which is the way it is for a reason. I have nothing against it. It's just a different forum than streaming. If you have to take an act break to run commercials that pay for your show, you have to structure the script in a different way. So now that we're on Paramount+, the writing can be a little different. There are a couple of swear words here and there, but none of us are naked. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're honoring what the show originally was.

It is a long-running show. We completed 10 more episodes in December that haven't aired yet, but we don't know when they're going to air, and we are hoping to get a pick-up for Season 19. We're hoping, fingers crossed, that they'll pick us up again. There are two seasons of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+. The third season is ready to air. I just did additional dialogue in our studio here with the broken arm. I hobbled on down into the garage to do the ADR, so I know the episodes are done, and they're ready to air, but I don't know when they're going to air them.

To answer your question, we know how lucky we are, and we're so thankful that we get to shoot the show again now and that we get to shoot it in Los Angeles and give people jobs when so many jobs have left town. So, our fingers are crossed that we get Paramount+ Season 4 for Evolution. And I'm so glad you like the show! I'm so glad.

The Signal, an Audible Original Podcast, is available to stream on Audible now. You can catch up on past episodes of Criminal Minds, now on Paramount+.