Is Reid and Simmons’ special assignment—explaining Matthew Gray Gubler and Daniel Henney‘s absences since scheduling hasn’t worked for either to return—over on Criminal Minds: Evolution? After all, when Reid was brought up this season, Prentiss (Paget Brewster) said he was on a sabbatical. But don’t read too much into that, showrunner Erica Messer says.
“I think we discussed what Prentiss would say to Jill [Felicity Huffman] and it just felt like special assignment felt too ‘in the know,’” Messer tells TV Insider. “That’s only if you need to know. You’re not going to tell that to somebody who’s not in the unit or not with the BAU or FBI or anything. So sabbatical felt like the safest thing to say, even if it’s not the exact truth. But she could say with honesty, Morgan’s [Shemar Moore] gone and Hotch [Thomas Gibson] is gone, but Reid’s on sabbatical.”
This came when Prentiss went to see Dr. Jill Gideon, Jason’s (Mandy Patinkin in the original series) ex-wife, in Season 17 Episode 7 “Piranha” because she worked on the paper that led to the creation of Gold Star back in the early days of the BAU, with her ex and Rossi (Joe Mantegna). At first, Jill refused to let Prentiss in.
Instead, through the door, she asked how the other members of the team she knew were. Hotch? Left the unit a couple years ago. Morgan? Also left. Reid? Sabbatical, Prentiss said. Jill also knew JJ (A.J. Cook) and Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), who greeted her with a hug when she did walk into the BAU at the end of the episode.
It once again comes down to making it work to get Gubler and Henney back. “We haven’t been able to work it out scheduling wise with them yet. So we’re all remaining hopeful that that can happen,” says Messer. “Both of those guys are part of this family and so if we can get them back one day, that would be amazing.”
Criminal Minds: Evolution, Season 18, TBA, Paramount+