RJ Hatanaka Believes Tyler Has a Unique Strength to Help Solve The Fan Cast on Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds Season 19 has introduced a new threat: a player much bigger and more dangerous than Voit.

Meanwhile, it’s delivered a season of learning and growth for Tyler, who originally came in as a civilian seeking revenge and has since become an FBI agent and profiler.

RJ Hatanaka sat down with TV Fanatic to discuss character growth, working with the seasoned vets of Criminal Minds, and Tyler’s unique experience that could help solve The Fan case.

TV Fanatic: Over the last four seasons of Criminal Minds: Evolution, we’ve watched Tyler gain depth and layers. What’s that like for you to add meat to the character?

RJ Hatanaka: It’s been a dream come true to play Tyler. It’s a real testament to the writers and producers of the show that they’re continuing to develop such storylines and give me such intense material in Season 19.

For Tyler to go from such a liability to where he is now is about as good as it gets for what I get to play.

He was getting into a gunfight in the middle of the woods with Voit in Season 16, and now he’s a real productive member of the team, learning on the fly. He’s come a long way.

Yes, let’s talk about learning on the fly. I’ve loved that so much on this season of Criminal Minds.

It’s been wonderful to see Prentiss and Rossi take him under their wings. What has that been like for you, having these two seasoned vets to learn from?

Getting to sit with them on the jet and have these conversations is sometimes an out-of-body experience. It’s a very lucky thing that I don’t take for granted.

We’re halfway through my fifth season, and I just keep learning from them.

And just like Tyler, it’s a lot of fun to watch people learn their styles and their movements and incorporate them into their own lives.

What’s it like for Tyler as he learns and takes notes?

There’s an episode in Criminal Minds Season 19 where Rossi lets Tyler comb through a crime scene. He gets some things right and some things wrong.

Rossi is just watching it. They’re teachable moments that are impossible to simulate in the classroom, and because the stakes are so high, Rossi taking the time to do that is a wonderful investment in Tyler’s future.

There’s a major payoff in that as we go forward.

We learn so much more from our mistakes than we do from our victories.

No doubt, and having the space with people who love you to fail is very rare.

Tyler is someone who historically has not been great with emotions. He appreciates having to go where he can to fail and learn.

I do miss some of the banter between Tyler and Garcia this season.

Working with Kirsten is a dream, and because of that, everyone loves working with her.

There will be more. They’ve found a really functional place, but there are always some drawbacks. You’ve got to catch them.

Love it! I wanted to ask about how Tyler feels about Garcia’s secret about Voit being out in the open. We’ve seen a lot of Rossi’s reaction, but none of Tyler’s.

It’s very complex, as it always is with anything related to Voit. This is the man who murdered Tyler’s sister.

That said, so much happened between these characters on an interpersonal level since he was hell-bent on revenge. There’s an empathy there that I don’t think would have been there three seasons ago.

That growth is shown by his being able to sit next to Garcia on the jet and be concerned about Rossi and her relationship, which he knows is important to her.

There are a lot of understated things the writers throw in that are really beautiful moments for fans to catch.

Learning emotions for Tyler has been a journey, and there’s more of that as we go forward, which is really fun to play.

It’s funny to be off sometimes and not really know how to navigate, which I think is also true with his relationship with Luke.

Luke is really going through it this year, and Tyler is navigating what’s right for the job and personal feelings. It’s a difficult thing.

We see Tyler stumble a little this season, not being as sensitive as he may want to be, which makes for great drama and character development.

I thought for sure that during Criminal Minds Season 19 Episode 5, Tyler and Luke were going to get into a fight over how the case was handled, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The two of you handled that balance between FBI profiler and friend in that case so well.

Thank you! That was a nice thing to play, and moments like that are why these writers are legendary, and this show has been going on for 20+ years.

He’s under pressure to start this new job and prove himself, but he’s not as seasoned as the rest of the team.

He wants to do the right thing, but a difficult personal situation involving another agent makes for a very juicy storyline. It will ultimately strengthen Luke and Tyler’s relationship.

He also showed maturity when Luke admitted that he couldn’t be the lead on that case. There was no ego or “I told you so” moments. 

We have such a found-family environment, and it’s a really complex and real set of relationships. I think that’s why the fans love it.

Now I get to talk all about The Fan. This new player. How is Tyler feeling about that?

Tyler can contribute to The Fan in a big way. He’s also an outsider who thinks differently.

One of Tyler’s assets is thinking differently from the people on the team, so he’s trying to learn to think like them, while still having a bit more freedom to continue thinking differently.

The Fan is a great bad guy, and Tyler contributes in some surprising ways over the last three episodes.

There are some interesting things that happen between Voit and The Fan.

In a way, Tyler could have gone down the same route as The Fan, considering all the research — and that was before he knew who Voit actually was.

Tyler was very close to a mental break. Some would say he had one.

There’s a scene during Criminal Minds Season 16 where he tells Garcia she saved his life, and that’s the driving force behind his respect for the team. They brought him back.

So, yeah! And the end of this season is relentless.

Is there anything that you can tease for these last three episodes?

Time is very much running out, and things start to gallop forward.

The BAU needs to find things out quickly, and many surprising people become involved in the whole Fan scenario.

I’ll leave it at that.

So, the entire team has to play to each other’s strengths.

Yeah, everyone’s got their strengths for sure.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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