‘Criminal Minds’ Stirs The Pot With A New Regular, Guest Stars

Criminal Minds continues to make changes to the cast for its 10th season.

Alicia Coppola, who has made numerous guest appearances on Law & Order, NCIS, Castle and others, will join Criminal Minds in the fourth episode of the upcoming season. She will guest star as Lisa Randall, according to TV Line. Randall is the head of a Morgellons syndrome (a mental disorder that manifests itself as disfiguring sores, the sensation of crawling on and under the skin, and fibrous material appearing under the sores, sometimes coming out of the sores) support group who’s “willing to go as far as she can to protect group members’ privacy.”

It has also been confirmed by TV Line that former Dexter cast member C. S. Lee will star in this season’s second episode as a high school English teacher with a deadly obsession that began in adolescence, when his academically rigorous father would make him and his older brother read in their shed for hours as punishment for supposedly poor grades.

Another guest star of note will be Dawson’s Creek alum Kerr Smith, who will play Frank Cowles, a bit of a creep who is an acromotophile (one who collects human limbs).

As far as the Criminal Minds regular cast, Jeanne Tripplehorn’s Alex Blake is leaving and is going to be replaced by Jennifer Love Hewitt. Hewitt will play Kate Callahan, a “seasoned undercover agent whose stellar work at the FBI has landed her a coveted position with the Behavioral Analysis Unit,” Entertainment Weekly reports. “We’re thrilled to introduce a new special agent by adding the very talented Jennifer Love Hewitt to our amazing cast,” said Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer. “Many of us on the show have enjoyed working with her over the years and look forward to again. We have exciting storylines planned for her character and the entire BAU team as we head into our 10th season.”

Hewitt starred in CBS’ The Ghost Whisperer for five seasons through 2010, and after that joined the Lifetime series The Client List, which ran for two seasons.

Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna will again direct an episode for season 10. It hasn’t been decided which episode as of yet.

One subject that the show will deal with during the first three episodes this season is Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) coping with saving Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) by shooting to death Reid’s would-be assassin in the season 9 finale. Criminal Minds has never shrunk from touchy subjects. It will be interesting to see how they portray Garcia now, being that she is a gunshot survivor herself.

Criminal Minds will premiere season 10 on October 1.