Spencer Reid Is Returning to 'Criminal Minds,' but I’m Not Sure That’s a Good Thing

Over the years, Criminal Minds has cycled through a range of cast members, with very few still on retainer from the early seasons. When the show was rebooted as Criminal Minds: Evolution in 2022, fan-favorites including David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), Jenifer Jareau (A.J. Cook), and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) re-appeared, but the most notable missing face was that of Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler). After two seasons of the reboot, it has been announced that Reid will be returning in Season 3 as a part of one episode. This news should have left me jumping with excitement, but to my surprise, all I felt was a slight disappointment. To preface, like everyone else, Reid is my favorite character, but there is a reason his return isn't drumming up the fanfare we would expect.

Reid Is Appearing in One Episode of 'Criminal Minds: Evolution'

As part of Criminal Minds' original cast and one of the main faces of the show, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t have Reid as one of their favorite characters. Many even consider him the main character of Criminal Minds, considering he was there since the very first episodes, and many of the overarching personal narratives revolve around him. Subsequently, he is one of the characters that has demonstrated huge development, from the scrawny know-it-all in Season 1 to the capable and more emotionally intelligent agent we leave in the Season 15 finale. As such, with how integral he was to the original, one episode doesn’t feel like enough to do his character and his legacy justice.

I’m all for the “take what you can get” mindset, especially since the fact that Gubler is even willing to appear in Evolutions Season 3 signals hope for future appearances, but the idea of seeing him in merely one episode leaves me strongly unsatisfied. Perhaps this discontentment is coming from a place of greed for my favorite character or bitterness over losing him all over again. Throughout Evolution, nostalgic references are made to Reid, particularly as his desk remains untouched, as a heartfelt tribute to the character. In comparison, a cameo feels like it would be a superficial extension of this nostalgia instead of a true snapshot of the character we adore. As such, maybe the series should wait until Gubler can properly join the show again or fully move on with the new cast they have developed without being tethered to the past.

'Criminal Minds: Evolution' May Get Wrong What We Love About Reid

When Reid does appear in Evolutions, it will likely be as a reductive form of his character, simply presented as his iconic mannerisms, brain, and nostalgia. He really made an impact on Criminal Minds with the unique way he engaged with cases, always thinking outside the box and with logical facts and statistics rather than intuition. Reid had every technique and graph etched into his endless log of almost computerized information in his mind, and it was jaw-dropping the majority of the time. While this aspect of his character offered many thrills and fun scenarios, it was only a superficial part that he was known for. What truly made him win our hearts were his relationships with his friends, mother (Jane Lynch), and colleagues, how his worldview was constantly challenged, and the Reid-centric episodes that forced him to confront the emotional side he often avoided in favor of academics.

The earlier seasons had many of Reid's most transformative episodes. The story arc of his addiction after being kidnapped is when we saw true fear and trauma tinge the genius' behavior, making us concerned about how erratic and flustered the usually composed agent was. When he exposes his worries over potentially inheriting schizophrenia from his mother, we are finally privy to a deep-seated, intrinsic fear that Reid has from his personal life, not his working one, drawing us closer to the character. Then, his tragic romance with Maeve (Beth Reisgraf) taught him to connect with his emotions and completely shattered us alongside him. It’s the Reid who deals with these ordeals who we support, the one we saw grow with each season, each loss, and each battle won. It is also a Reid that is nigh impossible to convey within a single episode. While I’ll still scream with joy when I see him, I do fear he may only be an unsatisfying shadow of who we knew, reduced to a vehicle of nostalgia.

Criminal Minds is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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