‘Criminal Minds’ season 12: Paget Brewster explains why she came back

Tonight’s certainly a big episode for “Criminal Minds,” as it is the first without Thomas Gibson as a primary cast member, and it also happens to be the first to feature Paget Brewster as a regular in years. This is an exciting opportunity to see how she fits in with the team after some time at Interpol, and also what sort of skills she brings to the table now.

So why did Paget personally want to be a part of the show again after stints on “Community,” “Grandfathered,” and other places? As she explains to TV Guide, much of the reason for that is that she simply loved being back around the people:

“The fact of the matter of is, there really aren’t that many shows that I love as much as Criminal Minds … I left at the right time for the right reason, but I love those guys. We’ve never stopped being friends. It’s such a great group there.

“It’s a true family. There are not families without problems, and people fight, but it’s because we all care a lot about the show. Even when I left, I still cared about the show and everybody on it. I came back whenever it was possible. I never, ever written it off like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again.’ I love that show and I love our fans and I love everyone on it. I love the cast and the crew. It’s the best situation I’ve ever been in.”

Paget and the majority of the cast has kept silent on the Gibson part of the equation, which is understandable given that A) it has to be an uncomfortable one to deal with and B) it’s probably not something that is easy for them to address given all that happened. For now, let’s just enter the Prentiss era once more excited to see what she brings to the table now. There’ll be time to discuss Hotch further, trust us.

You can head over here now to get some more news on Paget through the lens of Wednesday’s episode. We’ll be back later tonight with a full review! (Photo: CBS.)