CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Post-Mortem: Kirsten Vangsness Shares the Surprise Funeral Guest ‘Added to the Sacredness’ of the Emotional Hour

L-R: Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, RJ Hatanaka as Tyler Green, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, Nicole Pacent as Rebecca Wilson, Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia and Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 3, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, May 22 episode of CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION.]

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s JJ (A.J. Cook) was surrounded by loved ones as she buried her husband, Will…including a surprise show of support from former BAU teammate/friend Spencer (Matthew Gray Gubler).

Initially, it seemed like Spencer might not show up for the funeral. Prentiss (Paget Brewster) noted to Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) that Hotch, Morgan, and Spencer had sent flower arrangements; Prentiss also told her friend she hadn’t actually talked to Spencer, but she got a text. Garcia admitted she was just happy he reached out.

But Spencer showed up in time to give JJ and her kids a hug of support before the service started. He also got a proper hug-filled reunion with the BAU team, and accompanied them all to Will’s gravesite.

L-R: Matthew Gray Gubler as Spencer Reid, Mekhai Andersen as Henry Lamontagne, Phoenix Andersen as Michael Lamontagne, Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, and Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 3, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

“Oh, it was like not skipping a beat,” ​​Vangsness tells Give Me My Remote of reuniting with Gubler. “For all of us, not skipping a beat. Matthew usually keeps a little thing of peppermint oil in his pocket; I had a new thing of cinnamon peppermint oil in my pocket. [We] got in the van to drive to the [location], and it was like, ‘Oh, we’re doing a little peppermint thing on our hands!’ Like, it was the most normal, ‘Oh, yeah, there you are. Hi.’” 

“And it was lovely, so lovely, to have him,” she continues. “It’s so lovely to know that people are following their bliss and that’s why they’re not there, you know what I mean? And everybody’s okay. It’s just everything shifts and is different. The same, but different. He is an incredible soul, and he is a very, I think, profound kind of performer. He has a lot that the camera sees in him.”

To have Gubler return for Will’s funeral—and specifically to support JJ and her family—”was really good,” Vangsness says. “I think it added to the sacredness. And you need that. You need the team coming together. You need that [perspective of] this is how important it is, how reverent it is, that we’re losing somebody that we need that thing. And it was really really special for him to choose to come back.”

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION, Thursdays, Paramount+

RELATED:

• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paget Brewster and Kirsten Vangsness on the Complications of Voit’s Health Twist
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Post-Mortem: Kirsten Vangsness and Paget Brewster Reflect on the Show’s Big Loss
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘The Zookeeper’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Kirsten Vangsness on Garcia’s Hope for Voit and the ‘Gross’ UnSub in ‘The Zookeeper’
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Season 18 Premiere: ‘Swimmer’s Calculus’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paget Brewster Teases Prentiss’ Season 18 Mindset, Trouble with Voit, and the (Brief) Return of Matthew Gray Gubler
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Season 18 Trailer: Sicarius’ Followers Cause Mayhem for the BAU
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paramount+ Sets Season 18 Release Date, Orders Season 19
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Matthew Gray Gubler to Guest Star
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Season Finale: ‘Save the Children’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Stars & Stripes’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘North Star’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Piranha’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Message in a Bottle’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Conspiracy vs. Theory’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Kingdom Of The Blind’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Homesick’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Contagion’ Photos
• Paramount+ Renews CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Gold Star’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION to Return in June
• Pluto TV Adds CRIMINAL MINDS Channel
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Aisha Tyler on the Differences Between Directing the Original Series and Revival
• Paramount+ Renews CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Zach Gilford on the Joys of Being Directed by His Co-Stars
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Oedipus Wrecks’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Kirsten Vangsness on Getting to Do ‘Dangerous, Emotional’ Acting with Joe Mantegna
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: ‘Moose’ Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Aisha Tyler Previews What’s to Come for Lewis’ New Romance
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Premiere Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Watch the First 4 Minutes of the Premiere
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Aisha Tyler Previews a ‘Tougher, More Hardened’ Lewis
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Zach Gilford Warns Fans Will Experience ‘Feelings That You Never Thought You’d Feel for an UnSub’
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION’s Kirsten Vangsness Previews Garcia’s Reluctant Reunion with the BAU
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Paramount+ Sets a Thanksgiving Launch
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Photos
• CRIMINAL MINDS Revival Adds Zach Gilford, Gets New Title
• Paramount+ Revives CRIMINAL MINDS

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page or our Instagram.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.