Before its Season 12 finale, Criminal Minds had definitely given viewers plenty of reasons to gasp and get freaked out. But "Red Light" delivered the long-lasting drama's biggest shock yet, as the episode ended came to a full-stop just after most of the leads were involved in a massive car accident that will leave at least one character dead. Now, showrunner Erica Messer dropped the bombshell that when the newest cast member Daniel Henney enters the story in Criminal Minds' Season 13 premiere, not everyone is accounted for.
Garcia has just learned that her team is in trouble. And the first person she calls is Agent Simmons. He drives them to the site of the last known signal from the team. They discover this horrific car accident. Once they see who is injured, they discover that someone is missing.
Dangit, Erica Messer! This is like adding potential injury to potential injury. Just compounding the stress and turmoil until it's unbearable. And I'm just talking about the viewers here!
Okay, so it likely won't be that bad for fans, as going missing doesn't necessarily mean being dead. Although if the disappearance is tied to the maniacal killer Mr. Scratch, who may or may not have been responsible for the multi-vehicle accident, then that character probably won't find much of a silver lining in having survived the crash. To that end, it's also interesting how Erica Messer told EW that Garcia and Simmons would "see who is injured," which also doesn't directly imply fatalities. Wisely, all involved have been mum about what actually happened, and this show doesn't exactly have fans trying to spoil things, as it goes with The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. And so we wait.
Thankfully, though, Criminal Minds will be bringing in a new (but familiar) face to Season 13 via Daniel Henney's aforementioned Agent Matt Simmons, who was ported over the drama after the cancellation of the spinoff series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. According to Messer, this season won't be bringing any additional agents into the fold beyond Simmons, although it's still pretty early to lay it all down like that, given that no one could have predicted all the casting change-ups in Season 12, which saw Thomas Gibson getting fired, followed by the additions of Adam Rodriguez and Damon Gupton, and then the full-time returns for both Paget Brewster and Aisha Tyler. (Gupton has already been let go, too.)
It's highly unlikely Criminal Minds will be killing off any of its major characters, and Messer did make it sound like this will be the only episode in which said character will be missing. So, hopefully, we'll get to find out what happened by the time the credits roll. Hot take: If it's Damon Gupton's Stephen Walker that's missing, and he turns out to be dead later, all without the actor actually appearing in the episode, people are going to start chanting Jason Gideon's name.
With almost everyone's fates generally left in the air, Criminal Minds will return to CBS for Season 13 on Wednesday, September 27, at 10:00 p.m. ET. Check out what crazy killer is returning to the show, and then head to our summer premiere schedule and our fall TV schedule to see everything hitting the small screen soon.
It's unfortunate that Criminal Minds stars may be leaving the show. However, if you are looking to add all of your favorite seasons with the original cast to your dvd or blu-ray collection, you can check that out here.
