Criminal Minds: Evolution Kills Off a Major Character With Big Ties to an Original BAU Agent After 18 Years

“We were saying goodbye to Will, and we were saying goodbye to Josh Stewart, who’s played Will for what, maybe 17 years?” Brewster added. “It’s always shocking, but it’s always exciting too, even if it’s bad news. We know, as actors, that we and our crew and our writers can come together and make it happen, even if it’s difficult. So we’re just very lucky that our writers are working so hard.”

Stewart made his Criminal Minds debut in 2007 in the second season episode “Jones.” At the time, his character was investigating the case of a serial killer who was previously investigated by his own father. Although this was Stewart’s only Season 2 appearance, it wouldn’t be long before he returned, making appearances in every subsequent season save for the series’ sixth. In that time, the character developed a deep romance with A.J. Cook’s Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau. The pair were wed during the series’ seventh season in the episode “Run,” which closed out Season 7’s two-part finale focused on the gang of bank-robbing cop killers known as the Face Cards.

A Shocking Death Rocks Criminal Minds: Evolution

Although the latest season of Criminal Minds: Evolution marked the end of Stewart’s time with the franchise, it also marked the return of another fan-favorite in the form of Matthew Gray Gubler’s Spencer Reed. Ahead of his return to the series, Criminal Minds: Evolution showrunner Erica Meeser stated “Without spoiling anything, when you really need your friends, it’s usually big life things are happening. And so I will say that the big life thing is happening, and we get to see Spencer.” This confirmation came hot on the heels of Gubler’s own statements regarding a potential return to the character, which he openly said he would be honored to reprise for the follow-up series.