‘Criminal Minds’ season 12 spoilers: See first photo of Adam Rodriguez!

Season 12 of “Criminal Minds” is premiering this fall on CBS, and for much of the past few days, there have been a ton of headlines about the show. Unfortunately for it, much of them have been geared around the firing of Thomas Gibson more so than anything else.

Consider this story to be a welcome distraction, given that we have below (per TVLine) the first photo of Adam Rodriguez as his character Luke Alvez, who will be turning up for the first time in the season premiere. In speaking to the website, showrunner Erica Messer makes it clear exactly how you will be meeting Luke in action:

“We meet Adam’s character, Luke Alvez, in the field doing what he does, which is be a team leader on the [FBI] Fugitive Task Force … He ends up having this great action-y scene, where you really get to see him shine.”

Over the hiatus, Alvez will have led the charge towards recapturing many of the UnSubs who previously escaped from prison during the events of “The Storm.” By the time of the premiere, five of the criminals will still remain at large, with Mr. Scratch being the most notable and perhaps even the leader of them. This character’s presence, and history with Gibson’s Hotch, make matters incredibly interesting given what the producers are going to have to do to write off the character.

In general, we’re excited to see what Rodriguez brings to this role, mostly because he gives the show a strong, physical presence who can take on a wide array of different responsibilities.

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