After a two and a half year absence, "Criminal Minds" finally made its return yesterday for a reformatted sixteenth season on Paramount Plus titled "Evolution." The popular show about hunting serial killers has been attracting good reviews, lots of press and positive buzz from fans who are excited to see a ton of the most popular cast members return including Paget Brewster, Joe Mantegna, AJ Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez. Most prominently absent, however, is Matthew Gray Gubler, who played Dr. Spencer Reid for 323 episodes.
The actor himself hasn’t spoken out about why he decided not to return, but the show addressed where he’s at in the first two episodes that dropped, and his co-star Paget Brewster previously offered some insight into what’s going on. Before I continue, however, I should make clear that this article contains very light spoilers. As spoilers go, these aren’t exactly it was all a dream level, but if you want to go into the first episode of "Criminal Minds: Evolution" fresh, you may want to bail.
