Tim Curry's Criminal Minds Guest Role Was Pure Nightmare Fuel
Tim Curry's two-episode stint on "Criminal Minds" made Pennywise look cuddly.
The Season 5 finale of CBS' FBI procedural, 2010's appropriately titled "Our Darkest Hour," sets a creepy tone with opening grainy shots of Tim Curry's character driving through LA in a rundown, unsettling RV while Leonard Cohen's gruff voice sings "I'm Your Man" in the background. His hair is greasy, his teeth are yellow, and he has massive bags under his eyes. While Curry's take on Pennywise the Clown from the 1990 TV adaptation of "IT" is probably considered his greatest horror role, his "Criminal Minds" character, Billy Flynn, offers up a different, more potent flavor of scary.
Flynn strikes at night; there's no pattern to his victims other than he attacks them during blackouts at night. He kills fathers, sexually assaults mothers, and forces their children to watch. And he's been getting away with it for 26 years, going town to town without popping up on anyone's radar.
Criminal Minds fans had to wait months to discover how Tim Curry's character was stopped
"Our Darkest Hour" ends on a pretty major cliffhanger after the Behavioral Analysis Unit's Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) and LA Detective Matt Spicer (Eric Close) track down Tim Curry's serial killer character. But Billy Flynn, who murdered Spicer's parents when he was a child, kidnaps Spicer's sister and daughter and gains the upper hand. The episode ends with Billy killing Spicer, kidnapping Spicer's daughter Ellie (Isabella Murad) and leaving Morgan and Spicer's sister (Austin Highsmith Garces) tied up.
It's a really shocking plot twist, leaving fans in suspense all summer before Season 6 of "Criminal Minds" premiered in September 2010. The premiere saw the police and the FBI finally corner and catch Flynn and learn he is committing his heinous crimes in response to childhood trauma. Curry's theatrical performance style worked really well to sell Flynn's erratic behavior, making him a villain who stands out amongst the series' two decades of episodes.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Tim Curry was cast in the show after a meeting with a Criminal Minds star
Some fans might not know that Tim Curry's "Criminal Minds" performance was arranged completely by chance. In January 2026, Kirsten Vangsness, who plays computer analyst Penelope Garcia in "Criminal Minds," told People, "Tim Curry is my favorite because I was at the gym working out and I heard a voice say, 'I worship at your throne,' and I was like, 'Whose voice is that?' And it was Tim Curry.'"
Vangsness continued, "I went to work and I was like, 'Tim. He wants to be on the show,' and then they put him on. They didn't even know that he watched it, so I feel a little responsible for that." Following Tim Curry's death in August of 2026, some "Criminal Minds" stars paid a tribute to the actor on social media. Sharing an image on Instagram of himself with Curry, Joe Mantegna wrote, "Of my 17 years on Criminal Minds one of my greatest joys was being able to work with Tim Curry. Rest in peace dear Tim." Vangsness responded to the post in the comment section, "Mine too. What a damn Gem."