‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’: Paget Brewster Teases Matthew Gray Gubler’s Return, Prentiss’ Concern for Rossi

It’s been business as usual for the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) in the six months that have passed when Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18 picks up.

“The BAU were still running and gunning and getting it done and ‘Wheels up in 20′ and they never stop,” Paget Brewster, who stars as Emily Prentiss, tells TV Insider.

Rejoining that mix for an episode this season is Matthew Gray Gubler, reprising his role as Dr. Spencer Reid. (Scheduling has kept Gubler and Daniel Henney, whose characters were both still with the team when the original Criminal Minds run ended after 15 seasons on CBS in 2020, offscreen of the revival thus far.)

“You’ll see Prentiss and Reid pick up where they left off. Reid was a very big part of the team. Unfortunately, he’s not back for good, but he does come back to the team when he is needed, and that, I think, is something that the fans are going to be really excited about,” Brewster teases. “I think they’re going to be very happy to see why Reid pops up and how that story plays out. I have to be very cagey. I have to be so cagey.”

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Working together again was “the same as it always was,” she says. “I hear people say that, and I was always like, ‘Oh, come on. Time passes.’ Look, I went gray. But no, these people who you’ve been friends with for almost 20 years, people that you’ve worked with nine, 10 years sometimes, I don’t want to say it’s like riding a bike. It’s not like riding a bike. It really feels like you went to your high school reunion and your soccer team all got together over a beer and it’s old times. It just feels like he never left. It’s a seamless — his relationship with everyone onscreen and offscreen is the same in a good way. It’s comfortable, and it’s friendly and it’s enjoyable. And I wish we could have him more, but he’s busy. He’s doing that Einstein‘s grandson thing.” (Gubler’s new CBS drama, Einstein, has been ordered to series but delayed to the 2026-2027 season.)

Serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) was attacked in prison at the end of Season 17, but trailers and a synopsis reveal he survived. Now, it’s a matter of dealing with his network of serial killers taking more innocent lives.

The creepiest one? “The spiders,” says Paget Brewster. “That was gross. That was in the first episode of the first season on Paramount+, the guy where Aisha [Tyler] and I were standing in the trailer and saw this photograph of the guy that had been poisoned from the inside out. Listen, all of the Unsubs are disturbing and they are brilliantly written by our writers at the direction of our showrunner, Erica Messer. She has a cast iron stomach. It is some disturbing stuff, but it’s what the people want. It’s what the show’s about, and the fact that they can keep coming up with these psychopathies and UnSubs is fascinating to me. I couldn’t think of that many creeps, but I love saying their lines.”

As we’ve seen over the years, Voit really gets under Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) skin — after what he did to him (kidnapping, etc.), who can blame him? Last season, Rossi even hallucinated Voit, though it did seem he closed the door on that in the finale. Now, after the attack on Voit, which we couldn’t help but wonder if Rossi could have had a hand in or at least there could be a question of if he did, how worried is Prentiss for him going into this season?

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“It’s extremely concerning. They are the elder team members, they’re the boss figures for that team. And to see Dad kind of losing it a little bit is concerning,” admits Brewster. “And then he’s also being questioned by the FBI’s Internal Affairs Department. So he’s been pushed to his limit and Prentiss is concerned, but also kind of pushy. She’s kind of tough love poking him in the chest to get back to doing what he needs to do because I think they know each other well enough to know she can be a pain in his ass, but she’s actually just trying to support him and keep him going and let him know he’s the best at what he does.”

She continues, “I love their scenes together. I love the way they talk to each other and push each other and support each other. I think it’s a beautiful relationship. And Joe Mantegna, he’s a prince of a man. If you get to spend five minutes with Joe Mantegna, your life will be better forever. He’s a dreamboat.”

What are you hoping to see from Matthew Gray Gubler’s return and Season 18 in general? Let us know in the comments section below.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Season 18 Premiere, Thursday, May 8, Paramount+