Emmy spotlight on Zach Gilford’s change-of-pace performance in ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’
There are some consistently great actors in Hollywood who continuously star in projects that, for some reason or other, don’t break through into the zeitgeist. Austin Butler had been on TV for over a decade until he broke through with his Oscar-nominated performance in “Elvis.” Olivia Coleman’s television work was superb for years before everyone knew her name thanks to her Oscar-winning role in “The Favourite.” Talent of this caliber is out there waiting to be embraced by the masses as more niche-oriented audiences support them along the way. One such actor is Zach Gilford.
Gilford’s first starring role was his five-season stint on “Friday Night Lights.” Calling his performance “titanic,” Andy Greenwald (Vulture) perfectly captured Gilford’s style and wrote that he acts “so effortlessly that it’s hard to believe that there’s any capital-A acting going on at all. Except, of course, there is.” He goes on to cite Gilford’s performance in “Dare,” an independant horror film, as evidence of his range and prowess. For his work on “Friday Night Lights,” Gilford was nominated for four Gold Derby awards including Best Drama Supporting Actor (2007), Ensemble of the Year (2007, 2009), and even Best Drama Supporting Actor of the Decade (2010). Based on this alone, it’s clear that his work was always worthy of praise.
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Over the next few years, Gilford landed starring roles on the debut seasons of “Off The Map,” “The Mob Doctor,” and “The Family.” These shows may have lasted only one season, but Gilford’s work was top notch nonetheless. He then had recurring roles on “This Close” and “Good Girls” until he starred in both seasons of Spectrum’s “L.A.’s Finest.” Again, Gilford put in wonderful work, but it took until his next starring role for critics to begin singling him out.
In 2021, Gilford starred in “Midnight Mass,” Mike Flanagan’s third Netflix series after critical favorites “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” Flanagan’s recent successes ensured that all eyes would be on “Midnight Mass” and Gilford took the opportunity and ran with it. His performance as Riley Flynn, a former golden boy and recently released convict who fell from grace after a drunk driving incident, was nothing short of brilliant. Jessica Scott (Film Cred) lauded Gilford’s performance. She wrote, he “proves once again what an incredible actor he is,” as evident by the fact that, “It is often difficult to stand out in one of Flanagan’s Netflix productions since he casts a large number of stellar actors at the top of their game. Still, Gilford manages to stand out in ‘Midnight Mass’ with his raw, vulnerable performance.”
He was able to capture the character’s guilt, regret, and contrition all at once. Gilford portrayed Flynn’s sorrow perfectly, but he was also able to flip the script and redeem the character through sincerity. Scott echoed this paradigm when she wrote, “Gilford conveys [the characters’] lost mournfulness just in the way he widens his eyes as he talks about feeling adrift and without purpose…However, he also finds the beauty and joy in his character, cracking jokes and offering a wry but warm grin.” It is rare to meet a character who you understandably loathe and then unabashedly root for after the performer injects their earnestness and personality. Critics definitely took notice and nominated Gilford for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series at the Critics Choice Awards. Fans did too, with him being lauded in the same category at that year’s Gold Derby Awards.
This year, Gilford starred in another Flanagan series, “The Midnight Club,” as well as “Criminal Minds: Evolution,” the Paramount+ continuation of the CBS hit. Gilford’s work on the latter marked the first time that he embraced full fledged darkness in a character. He attributes his casting to the range he was able to showcase on “Midnight Mass.” He told Damian Holbrook (TV Insider), “Everyone always thought of me as…the nice guy who does no wrong, and my ‘Mass’ character was flawed and morose but still good. I think the creators of ‘Criminal Minds’ were like, ‘Oh, he can be dark.’” Marking the first time the franchise has ever had a season long assailant, or ‘unsub’ as they refer to the killers, this distinguishes Gilford in the show’s robust catalog of outstanding guest stars.
Gilford had time to play his character, Elias Voit, as a fully realized person, however evil that person may be. For context, Voit spent the downtime resulting from the pandemic to create a network of serial killers that the protagonists spend the season dismantling. While the show is certain to never paint Voit in a sympathetic light, Gilford is able to give the villain depth and imbue enough talent into his performance that the audience can be entertained by him over a 10 episode span. In his talk with Holbrook, he said that what the show is doing with Voit is “humanizing the unsub. We’re going home with him. All these serial killers are people — not just guys hiding in a creepy basement all day doing murder. They have to function in the world.” That’s what made Gilford the perfect casting choice – his acting chops allow for impressive dark scenes while his natural charisma attaches believability to the scenes featuring the character’s mundane life.
It’s the kind of nuanced performance that awards bodies and audiences love, akin to Anthony Hopkins’ role in “The Silence of the Lambs.” The producers loved his performance so much that they reworked their intended ending so that he can reprise the role in the next season of the recently renewed series. Showrunner Erica Messer told Emily Longeretta (Variety) that the show’s cliffhanger ending was crafted because the writers “love working with” Gilford and that they “didn’t know we were gonna fall in love with [Gilford] so much that we wanted to come up with a story that could continue, really, until we started breaking those episodes.” A testament to his performance, this has all the markings of a star-turning role and, for a performer like Gilford who’s been at this level for years, it’s only a matter of time before more and more critics, pundits, and awards bodies take notice.
Gilford can next be seen in his third Flanagan-led series, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” which is in post-production and weaves Edgar Allan Poe works together in one central narrative. It is expected to debut on Netflix this fall and, while no plot details are currently known, it is likely that Gilford will have a meaty and attention-worthy role if his previous work with Flanagan is any indication. The actor will also be in the next season of “Criminal Minds: Evolution,” but fans will have to wait a bit longer for that since it was just renewed. According to Messer, his role will be evolving into a consultant-esque type so the team can use him to take down like-minded killers. The sky is truly the limit for a performer like this and it will be satisfying to watch the acclaim when Gilford finally gets his due.
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