Why Zach Gilford Found It Harder Working With His Wife on Criminal Minds (2024)

Zach Gilford loves working with wife Kiele Sanchez — but playing a couple on a show like Criminal Minds: Evolution isn’t as easy as it seems.

“No, it’s actually harder,” Gilford, 42, who plays Elias Voit, exclusively told Us Weekly, referring to the tension between their fictional characters. “It’s harder because I don’t want to hold a gun to my wife’s head. … It just happened to be that the nature of these scenes were pretty gross.”

Gilford wasn’t thrilled to film scenes of a more violent nature with Sanchez, 46, adding, “Honestly, all those scenes are so f—ked up. I’ll only speak for myself. Kiele can obviously speak for herself, but it felt gross [bringing those darker moments to life together].”

The first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which premiered in 2023, introduced viewers to Voit and his loved ones. While Voit spent years trying to be a family man, who moonlights as a prolific serial killer, his wife Sydney (Sanchez) was none the wiser.

Sydney had to come to terms with who her husband really was once the BAU started to close in on Voit. The drama reached a boiling point in the season finale when Voit turned on Sydney and tried to prevent his family from leaving him. (Voit also experienced hallucinations throughout the season of him killing his wife and kids.)

Despite Sanchez being the perfect person to play the role of Gilford’s onscreen wife, the casting wasn’t actually their idea.

“I was on my way to work and I said goodbye to Kiele. And she looked at her phone and said, ‘That’s weird. I just got an offer to play your wife on Criminal Minds,'” Gilford shared before noting that he “didn’t know that was happening” behind the scenes. “Then, [showrunner] Erica [Messer] told me, ‘We didn’t want to put pressure on you or Kiele. We just wanted to make it very professional.'”

He added: “I think they were like, ‘Well, if Zach’s doing this then the only way we’ll get an actress of Kiele’s caliber to play this part is because she’s married to him. And it’ll be like a homie hookup.’ Once they got Kiele, they definitely leaned into it and they’re like, ‘Well, we have this actress so let’s write to her.'”

After meeting on the set of the 2010 TV pilot The Matadors, Gilford and Sanchez have worked together multiple times. The pair has shared the screen on Kingdom, The Purge: Anarchy and Sanchez cowrote an episode of The Fall of the House of Usher, which featured Gilford as a main cast member.

“We’ve worked together several times and in very different situations,” he shared with Us. “But there’s a theme on set when you are coworkers but also a married couple. It’s kind of trying to walk that tightrope.”

Gilford shared the most valuable lesson he has learned about working on the same set as his wife, adding, “There’s times where I want to [support her]. Like if she’s having a discussion [with a director or a writer], I want to be like, ‘Yeah, Kiele is right!’ But that’s not my place. Kiele can talk for herself — she’s a very strong woman.”

Regardless of the dark material that comes with starring on Criminal Minds, Gilford still gushed over how “fun and cool” it was to have Sanchez as a scene partner. He also had nothing but praise for the show itself after starring in the last two seasons.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky. I’ve been really lucky in my career, but it’s been cool. Everyone who comes on that set says, ‘This is the best set I’ve ever been on,'” he told Us. “It’s so fun to get to work with your friends and they’re really the best group of people. Then, cast aside, our crew is f—king awesome. They’re so dope, they’re so cool, they’re so funny, they’re so chill and so good at their jobs. I am appreciative to be on a set [where] this is the vibe. It all trickles down from the showrunner, Erica Messer.”

Criminal Minds: Evolution has been renewed for season 3 and episodes are currently streaming on Paramount+.