We may finally get answers about that special assignment Dr. Spencer Reid has been on!
Matthew Gray Gubler is set to reprise his role as Reid in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18 in “part of one … episode,” according to TVLine.
Gubler was part of the show’s original full 15-season run on CBS, which ended in 2020. It then returned as Evolution on Paramount+ in 2022. Over the first two seasons of the new run, both Reid and Matt Simmons (Daniel Henney) have been the only members of the BAU who were with the team at the end of the original series to not return. Both were said to be on special assignment in the Season 16 premiere, with Deputy Director Bailey (Nicholas D’Agosto) telling Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) he wasn’t “at liberty to discuss” it, and, “if and when they return is entirely up to them. Sadly, we don’t have a say.”
The vagueness of that and any mention to follow was simply due to the actors’ availability. “I feel like until I know [if they’ll be back], I don’t really wanna bring up their secret missions because I just don’t want to promise something that we can’t deliver,” showrunner Erica Messer told TV Insider in February 2023.
Then, ahead of the Season 17 premiere, fans began wondering if Gubler could be returning due to a photo of Spencer Reid’s nameplate on a desk in a photo shared on Joe Mantegna’s Instagram story. Messer confirmed for us that he would not.
Related‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Stars Are Filming Season 18 — See Photos
Whoever posted that photo was “walking through the BAU up to Rossi’s office and held on that nameplate just long enough for it to be a thing,” she explained. “But I’m keeping that desk there and I’m keeping that nameplate there. It’s always staying there as far as I’m concerned. So that’s why you saw it. You’ll see it throughout the show. It’s like, there’s his desk.”
We did end up seeing that nameplate in Season 17 when Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) spent time in the BAU’s office.
Then, intriguingly enough, we seemingly got news about Reid, with Prentiss telling Jill Gideon (Felicity Huffman) in Season 17 Episode 7 “Piranha” that he was on sabbatical. But as Messer told us after, that wasn’t necessarily an update.
“I think we discussed what Prentiss would say to Jill, and it just felt like special assignment felt too ‘in the know,’” she said. “That’s only if you need to know. You’re not going to tell that to somebody who’s not in the unit or not with the BAU or FBI or anything. So sabbatical felt like the safest thing to say, even if it’s not the exact truth.”
So that means when Reid pops up, we could very well learn what that special assignment was. Or maybe there won’t be time due to what brings him back if it’s not related to that or he won’t be able to share.
What are you hoping to see when Gubler shows up on Evolution? Let us know in the comments section below.
Criminal Minds: Evolution, Season 18, TBA, Paramount+
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