CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paget Brewster Teases Prentiss’ Season 18 Mindset, Trouble with Voit, and the (Brief) Return of Matthew Gray Gubler

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Prentiss (Paget Brewster) had a rough go of things last season, culminating in the FBI Section Chief surviving a brutal kidnapping. But will viewers actually see Prentiss handle any of that lingering trauma when CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION returns for season 18 on Thursday, May 8?

“Prentiss is pretty tough,” Brewster tells Give Me My Remote. “I hadn’t thought about this until you asked the question, but it may be easier for Prentiss to focus on her teammates and what they’re going through. It’s easier to do that, try and tough love them towards taking care of themselves or doing the job they need to do, because she doesn’t want to reflect on what she’s been through.” 

“This was like kidnapping number four—Prentiss has been beat to hell over the last 17 years,” she continues with a laugh. “But I think she does find some solace and acceptance and support from that team. So there is definitely a strong place to return to.”

Though things get a little easier for Prentiss this season, her friends are going through their own turmoil.

“I think the season coming up, season 18, a couple other team members are going to go through the gauntlet in the way that life is,” Brewster teases. “It’s not focusing on one person. We’re an ensemble show, and we’re all of equal value as characters and stories. And so there’s some stuff coming up for [A.J. Cook’s] JJ and [Joe Mantegna’s] Rossi and [Aisha Tyler’s] Lewis…We’ll see the journeys that they go through. And Prentiss is there to be the boss and try to coddle, try to help, try to push, try to support, and keep the team going.”

One of the things that BAU has to contend with is the ongoing problem of criminal mastermind Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), who was attacked in prison at the end of season 17. Though Voit is incapacitated, his followers are still causing mayhem.

“Well, we have not shut down his network,” Brewster points out. “So regardless of his physical condition after being beaten up in prison in gen pop, we still have a job to do—and that is to stop all of these people who were going to be behaving this way, regardless, but they have a mission from Voit’s network. So that job isn’t over.” 

“Voit’s situation has changed, but the network has not,” she continues. “So there is still a web of people we need to find and stop who were aided by Voit before he was incarcerated.”

There’s also one bonus bright spot coming up for long-time CRIMINAL MINDS fans: Matthew Gray Gubler, who played Dr. Spencer Reid during the show’s CBS run, will appear in a brief guest spot in a season 18 episode.

“Matthew who?” Brewster jokes. “Matthew, yes, he’s coming back. He’s coming back at some point in the season for…it’s not long enough, but he’ll be back with us for a couple of scenes in an episode. And it’s very important that he be there. So we were lucky to get him, and I think the fans will be very happy to see him, as we were happy to see him.”

Though the details around Reid’s return are top-secret, filming with Gubler again “was just like old times.” 

“It was really nice,” Brewster gushes. “I respect his decision to not come back when we came back for [the] Paramount+ [revival], because that was his first audition—his first audition ever was for CRIMINAL MINDS; he was 25 years old when he started the show. It’s a long time to only do one job. So I get that. But it was really fun having him back. And I think the fans are going to be…there may be some tears in the house. Might be some tears!”

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION, Thursdays, Paramount+

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