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‘Criminal Minds’ Season 12: Agent Emily Prentiss Returning?

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 23:47 PST, Jul 21, 2016

Criminal Minds Season 12 will see the return of a former BAU agent. It won’t be Shemar Moore’s Derek Morgan, but it will be another fan favorite. Paget Brewster is confirmed to appear in at least one episode of Season 12 as Agent Emily Prentiss.

This isn’t the first time the actress has returned to the show since she left at the end of Criminal Minds Season 7. She has returned to help the BAU on various cases, including one to find and save JJ, who had been captured and tortured. It is currently unclear just how many episodes she will guest star in and whether this will move into a permanent position later on.

The return has been confirmed by multiple sources. CBS shared that actress Kirsten Vangsness said at the San Diego Comic Con Fan Favorite Panel that Brewster will return for multiple episodes. Showrunner Erica Messer has also expressed her excitement at the return of the fan favorite character.

It has been difficult to replace Brewster since she left the show. She stepped into the BAU after Lola Glaudini left her role as Elle Greenway. It didn’t take long for fans to fall in love with her kind but strong character, something that they’ve failed to do with the women who replaced her, including Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Kate Callaghan.

Fans have called time and time again for her to come back to Criminal Minds, but the actress has said that it wouldn’t be full-time. She has other projects that she wants to work on. Her schedule has allowed her to reprise her role now and then, most recently in the 200th episode just after Moore left.

Her commitment to the show is unknown, just like when she will first appear for Criminal Minds Season 12. It is possible that she will appear in the premiere, as she will be involved in getting the 13 unsubs back after they escaped from prison. This storyline is expected to introduce newcomer Adam Rodriguez to the team, as he joins as Moore’s replacement as a series regular.

During Criminal Minds Season 11, Derek Morgan made the decision to put his family first. He left his dangerous job in the BAU for the sake of his wife and child. While fans were devastated and want him back, the actor has said he is proud of how things went for the character. He wanted to leave a year earlier, but Messer convinced him to stick around to create a reasonable and good storyline around his character to keep fans engaged in the whole show. She didn’t want something like when Mandy Patinkin suddenly left at the end of Season 2.

Messer says that the door is always open for many actors to come back to the world of Criminal Minds. Patinkin never took up on that offer, and his character was killed off screen in Season 10. However, Moore will be welcome to come back if his schedule works out and it is right for the storyline. This is why Brewster has regularly come back to the show.

There were earlier hints that Brewster would appear in some of the Criminal Minds Season 12 episodes. She was spotted in a photo for the first table read of the season. As The Inquisitr reports, this also led to speculation that Moore was reprising his role as Morgan. It turned out that the actor was just paying his former colleagues a visit on their first day.

Criminal Minds Season 12 will premiere on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 on CBS.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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