When Criminal Minds: Evolution debuts this Thanksgiving, it will be without some of its most familiar faces.
As previously reported, Matthew Gray Gubler is not returning as Spencer Reid for the 10-episode Paramount+ revival.
The same can be said for Daniel Henny, who played Matthew Simmons when the series aired on CBS.
“It’s a little bit more of a mystery what Reid and Simmons are up to. They’re certainly not forgotten. Their desks are still there, still have stuff on it,” showrunner Erica Messer teased Thursday during the Paramount+ TCA panel for the show, according to Variety.
“We’re definitely playing that. They are not gone gone.”
Messer would like to have more stars to come back at some point in the series.
Thankfully, the series will not be changing in its move from CBS to Paramount+.
“It has definitely broadened our scope, but I’m very aware that teenage kids watch this show,” Messer shared.
“I never wanted us to go into full Rated-R … but we live in the world longer.”
“We wanted to honor this journey of grief that a lot of people have been through,” Messer said
“So because of that, you just get to live and breathe in this space and it can be disturbing — a disturbing space to live in.”
“I don’t think you’re going to be shocked at the graphics being worst or anything like that.”
As for what fans can expect from the team, Rossi will be going through an emotional crisis that will affect the entire team.
Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster are all locked in to return for the revival, which will get a two-episode premiere on November 24.
CBS’ original Criminal Minds series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the best of the best who profiled the worst of the worst.
In Criminal Minds: Evolution, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers.
As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
