Spencer Reid Is Returning To Criminal Minds, But Fans Have Complicated Feelings About It

For all the joy that TV revivals bring to fandoms, it’s always a bummer when beloved actors choose not to reprise their roles in such follow-up projects. Criminal Minds viewers were already familiar with saying goodbye to longtime stars like Shemar Moore, but with Paramount+’s Evolution continuation, fans bid farewell to Reid, with Matthew Gray Gubler opting out of returning, at least at first. Now, it appears Gubler is indeed returning when Season 3 hits the 2025 premiere schedule, and it’s sparking complicated reactions from fans.

First and foremost, let’s talk about what sparked all this interest in the first place. Matthew Gray Gubler spoke with the Italian outlet Ansa.it and talked about what’s coming soon along his career path, which is where he seemingly just tossed out the fairly huge update, and without further details. As he put it:

I’ve filmed a new episode of Criminal Minds, I’m working on a Halloween movie, and I’m doing shows, plays in theaters around America.

It’s wild that no one in the moment tried pulling all the information possible out of Gubler about what he’d be getting into when finally returning to the role that made him a broadcast network mainstay for 15 years. Alas, he might not have said anything too meaty anyway, so I’ll just blindly assume we’ll have to wait until closer to his episode to find out what’s happening.

For now, we can feast on the various reactions to the news. Obvious there are hyper-positive responses to be found, such as the ones below (including one that just blindly hopes everything will go well):

To be sure, the majority of reactions to this trickled-out news have been positive, if not downright obsessive. A lot of people can’t wait to see Spencer Reid on the small screen again. Of course, this is all taken with a hefty grain of salt, since Gubler could feasibly only be talking about directing an episode as opposed to appearing in it. But we’ll just stay optimistic for now.

Just like everyone who is half-assuming that the only reason Reid is coming back in Season 3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution is to kill him off, thus the bulletproof vest request above. It’s definitely not a wild thing to theorize about, since shows are known for bringing back beloved former actors just to break viewers’ hearts with permanent farewells.

And then there’s the more negative side of the fandom who would be more than happy if Matthew Gray Gubler stayed far away from Criminal Minds. Several expressed distress over the idea that the upcoming season’s increase in focus on narrative arcs for A.J. Cook’s J.J. will be cheapened by Reid returning, while others took shots at the actor for not wanting the best for the character.

Obviously we won’t know exactly how he’ll be used until later, but you just know longtime fans are going to have thoughts about it either way.

Ahead of Season 3 kicking off production, showrunner Erica Messer talked with CinemaBlend about the importance of continuing to reference characters like Reid and Thomas Gibson’s Hotch even though they aren’t around anymore. I can’t imagine how everybody would react if Gibson was revealed to be returning after his controversial firing from the flagship drama back in 2016. One can hope.