Criminal Minds: Matthew Gray Gubler Confirmed to Return — But With a Twist

The doctor — meaning, Spencer Reid — is back in.

For a little bit, at least.

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Sources confirm for TVLine that “fortunately, schedules aligned” and Matthew Gray Gubler will at long last make his debut on Paramount+’s Criminal Minds: Evolution.

TVLine hears that Gubler, though, is due to only appear in part of one Season 18 episode.

Criminal Minds wrapped filming on Season 18 earlier this week.

Gubler is the Criminal Minds franchise vet who has been most conspicuously absent from the sequel series that debuted on Paramount+ in November 2022. On-screen, it was established that Reid and fellow MIA cast member Daniel Henney’s Matt Simmons have been away on an assignment.

“It’s a little bit of a mystery what Reid and Simmons are up to,” showrunner Erica Messer told TVLine ahead of Evolution‘s launch, “but they’re certainly not forgotten.”

In fact, “Dr. Reid’s and I believe Matt Simmons’ desks are still there, still have stuff on it…,” Messer noted. “[Spencer and Matt] are not gone gone.”

After Evolution‘s first season finale, Messer said, “It’d be amazing” if Gubler and/or Henney eventually returned. “I’m not giving up hope on that. But I do know that everybody has these lives outside of our show, and that’s the tricky part…. They’re off doing other things.”

One of the things MGG is now busy with is the pilot for CBS’ Einstein procedural, which he will headline as Albert Einstein’s “brilliant but directionless” great-grandson.

Rumblings of Gubler’s Criminal Minds: Evolution appearance first surfaced via the Italian magazine ANSA.

Want scoop on Criminal Minds: Evolution, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!

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