[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18 Episode 3 “Time to Say Goodbye.”]
While Criminal Minds: Evolution might be in the middle of a painful arc for JJ (A.J. Cook) right now — her husband Will (Josh Stewart) died suddenly — it did feature the return of a very welcome, very familiar face in the Thursday, May 22, episode: Matthew Gray Gubler as Dr. Spencer Reid.
As the team rallied around JJ and did whatever they could to comfort her (though she was trying to keep it together up until she broke during the eulogy), the show revealed that teammates who had left, like Hotch, Morgan, and Reid had sent flowers. And it was then that Reid showed up in person to be there for JJ, going first to her and her sons for a hug, then joining the rest of his former team in the pews. After, JJ remarked that she couldn’t believe he was there, and he told her, “I’m always here for you guys.” He was also the last one to stand at Will’s graveside with JJ after her husband was buried.
“It’s a joy to get to tell stories with people you love so I will always cherish any moment, big or small, that I get to hug my Criminal Minds family or slip back into my dear friend Spencer’s oversized wingtips,” Matthew Gray Gubler said in a statement obtained by TV Insider.
Though Gubler’s Reid had still been with the BAU when Criminal Minds wrapped its original run, he did not reprise his role when Evolution premiered. Showrunner Erica Messer explained that was due to scheduling. That will likely remain the case, with his new CBS drama Einstein coming as part of the 2026-2027 season.
When we spoke with A.J. Cook about this episode, she said that the very little dialogue between JJ and Reid “was by choice. They didn’t need a monologue. They didn’t need a bunch of dialogue. It’s all in looks. And when we were in the conception phase of this episode, Erica and I — it would feel like something major was missing if we didn’t have Spence, it just would. It would feel weird not having him there.”
She shared that she called Gubler and explained what was happening. “He was just like, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll be there,’ like a true friend does. You show up in those moments. And we were so lucky to get him back. And yes, it was a brief moment, but it was so impactful and it felt so great having him there, just kind of felt like a homecoming. And my kids love Matthew and Matthew’s like my third kid. It was pretty cute. Seeing him back on set with everybody, it was pretty special.”
What did you think of Matthew Gray Gubler’s return? Let us know in the comments section below.
Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
