‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Stars Talk Prentiss’ Sister & Garcia’s Love Life

Right now on Criminal Minds: Evolution, we could use something a bit more light-hearted … like, say, sisterly drama? After all, the Paramount+ drama introduced the existence of a sister for Prentiss (Paget Brewster) at the end of last season — shocking even Brewster herself, as she told us — and we have yet to hear about her again, three episodes into the current one. When we brought that up with Brewster at the beginning of this season, she shared her hopes that we do see that character in the future.

Brewster was the one to suggest the spin on it that suggested “she has a problem with her sister because conflict is story,” she explained to TV Insider. “Because I want someone to play my sister so that we can get some family involved and have it be a contentious relationship. Now, who is the sister? Where is she? I don’t know. They haven’t told me they’re writing it. They might be making me a sweet, sweet little surprise that I’m going to find out next season.” (Criminal Minds: Evolution was renewed for Season 19 ahead of the premiere.)

So, does Brewster have any dream casting in mind? “I hadn’t even thought about that,” she admitted. “Now I’m going to think about it.”

Elsewhere on the more personal front for the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit), Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) and Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) have settled into an amicable working relationship after a rocky romance.

“It’s weird,” admitted Vangsness. “You know when your therapist has drilled enough stuff in you that you’re like, ‘I can’t believe I dated them, I can’t believe they violated those boundaries’? This was a little like that, but also she’s over it but not totally over it. You work with the person and they’re right there all the time and you still want to make sure, ‘Is my lipstick on?’ That’s that recheck all the time.”

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She’d rather not play “a clean break,” which is what we see with these two. “It’s real, her feelings, but I also think that they’re fluid, and at the end of the day, we have these very huge things that we’re dealing with. So you let it go and deal with those things.”

There’s not much time in general for anything related to Garcia’s love life this season (there’s always what could have been/could still be with Adam Rodriguez‘s Luke). “It is an intense season,” said Vangsness. “It is 10 episodes. I think we take what we can get. I think we make up stories outside of what’s happening in front of you. I think that there’s so much going on and the season before was all about Garcia kind of being more sure of herself. Now, she’s trying to put romance in her friendship and friendship in her romance. And she’s working a lot, so there’s not a lot of time for things. But she’s Garcia, she’ll get in some flirting wherever she can.”

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+