‘Criminal Minds’ season 9 spoilers: ‘Once Upon Time’s’ David Anders to guest

Is David Anders ever going to land himself a series regular gig on a show these days? We don’t know, since for now he just seems to be the master of the recurring guest spot. He’s a doctor doubling as Victor Frankenstein on “Once Upon a Time,” he’s Elena’s biological father on “The Vampire Diaries,” he’s an adversary for Oliver Queen on “Arrow,” and he also is a ruthless agent with shady dealings on USA’s “Necessary Roughness.” All of this is of course without even mentioning his work on “Alias,” which to us was the last great serious regular gig that he had.

According to TVLine, Anders’ latest villainous role comes on “Criminal Minds” season 9, where he will be appearing in the show’s third episode as Anton Harris, a serial killer whose basic standard-operating procedure involves giving his victims a lobotomy. This entire role sounds somewhat familiar to the Brain Surgeon that is currently terrorizing people on “Dexter,” and it will thus be intriguing to see if there is any real differentiation made.

Anders may still have a busy year lined up beyond this show. While a “Once Upon a Time” return has not been confirmed by any means, it would be a shock to never seen Dr. Whale turn up again. Fun fact (at least if you like the fairy-tale drama): Anders was originally penciled in to have a much larger role in that show as a love interest for Meghan Ory’s Red, but the writers went in a different direction and Ory was let go in order for her to join CBS’ “Intelligence” as a series regular.

Now, let’s just hope that this “Criminal Minds” gig is really amazing for Anders, if for no other reason than that he will be able to eventually go find a show of his own to call home.

Photo: CBS