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‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’: Aisha Tyler Details Tara & Rebecca Wedding We Didn’t See
In Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18, after a near-death experience, Dr. Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler) proposed to her girlfriend, Rebecca Wilson (Nicole Pacent) in front of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit). Subsequent episodes did see the two talking about and planning their wedding, but then Season 19 jumped forward a year, and when it picked up, they were already married.
So, when Swooon caught up with stars A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Paget Brewster, and Aisha Tyler and executive producer Erica Messer at ATX TV Festival at the end of May, we had to ask what the nuptials looked like.
“Well, these women, they’re driven, their lives are very full. I think it was small — close family, the BAU and friends. I think it’s interesting, like, when you’re 20, you have a big wedding,” Tyler shared. “Later in life, you really just want the people around you that you care the most about. You want your family around those. I think it was small and then they went off to an island for a couple of weeks during which Tara picked up her phone every single day. Despite having promised to not work, she worked every day because that is her nature.”
After the wedding and honeymoon, she continued, “Then they got back into the swing of things because they’re both heroes in their own way and I think that’s a part of why they’re drawn to each other is they’re trying to keep people safe. So, very romantic, very meaningful. Yes, intimate.”
When it came to the cakes, that’s where it got a bit complicated. “Lewis had a lemon cake and then there was a vegan chocolate cake because you know,” Tyler said, gesturing to Vangsness, who quickly correct her with, “But then I brought a Victorian sponge because I was like, ‘I’m not vegan, I’m vegetarian.'”
Added Tyler, “Oh, yeah. And then we were like, ‘Well, did you tell us? When did you become a vegetarian, not a vegan?’ So, now we have three cakes. But everybody loves cake.”
We knew after the Season 18 finale that there would be a one-year jump. At the time, Messer was vague when discussing with TV Insider whether we’d see the wedding.
“I think Aisha’s keeping this a little bit in the dark, so I don’t want to put it out there in the open, but there is a reason to celebrate, meaning we’re not going to put them through the drama that they got put through in the seasons prior, certainly in Episode 8 when she was shot,” the executive producer said. “But we took a page from something that happened to one of our writers who shared something with us in the writers’ room when we started on Season 19. So we’re like, I think that’s how we’re going to handle that. And that’s a little bit of a tease, but you’ll get to see when we get there.”
At the beginning of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19, serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), who’s in prison and whom the BAU is using as a resource, noticed Tara and Rebecca’s wedding rings and congratulated them.
Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+
—Additional reporting by Avery Thompson
