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When Will ‘Criminal Minds’ Return? When Will Season 12 Premiere On CBS?

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 03:32 PST, Sep 23, 2016

CBS premiered many shows this week for the fall TV 2016 schedule, but the Criminal Minds Season 12 premiere was missing. Just when will Criminal Minds return in 2016? Here is the date you need to put in your diary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdqWNQPxGWs

The good news is that there isn’t too long to wait for the Criminal Minds Season 12 premiere. Premieredate.tv confirms that the return date for Criminal Minds is on September 28, 2016. There is less than a week to wait to see the BAU back in action. It was renewed for a full season shortly after the season finale in May.

There were worries that Criminal Minds Season 12 wouldn’t happen. The licensing deal between ABC and CBS had come to an end, and many fans worried that the two networks wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement to keep it on the air. CBS puts up all the money for the drama while ABC gains the profits.

Shemar Moore leaving Criminal Minds in Season 11 also sparked cancellation rumors. Would the show be able to continue with a fan-favorite character leaving the show? It turned out that CBS and ABC believed that it could continue, but then drama in the summer made it look like the show would end up off the air.

Thomas Gibson made headlines after being suspended by producers for two weeks after an altercation between him and a writer. The networks decided to change that suspension to a dismissal, meaning Gibson’s character, Agent Hotch, would need to be written out of the show very quickly.

Fans were upset. How could the show get rid of another favorite without any warning? The good news was that Paget Brewster confirmed that she would return to Criminal Minds as a series regular for Season 12. This made many fans extremely happy since they had been requesting the actress’ return for years. Nobody has been able to unite the fanbase in the way that Brewster has with Special Agent Prentiss.

There are now confirmations that another familiar face will return to Criminal Minds in Season 12. Jane Lynch will reprise her role as Spencer Reid’s mother. She hasn’t been seen on the show since 2008 but is always warmly welcomed by fans of the show. Lynch’s character helps to show a different side to Reid’s character and tends to considerably help his character development.

This year, her character will be involved in a fun story around Reid, according to TV Guide. Lynch’s character will appear in Episode 11 to start, but she may reprise her role for more episodes in the future. Executive producer Erica Messer hasn’t confirmed the full involvement, yet.

Lynch would have liked to reprise the role in the past, and Minds certainly wanted her. Unfortunately, her commitment to other projects, including Glee and Angel from Hell, made it impossible to fit the crime drama into her schedule. Now that she has no other projects at this time, she has been able to fit in the filming.

One thing that Minds has done despite Lynch not being able to appear is keeping Reid’s mother in the picture. There are regular mentions of how she is doing and what she is up to. It is clear that there are conversations and meetings in between episodes, making it a very realistic storyline for her and her son. The last fans heard, Reid’s mother was that she had dementia and didn’t recognize him right away. They were planning a trip to Paris, though. It turns out that they took that trip and it will be mentioned in the Criminal Minds Season 12 premiere.

Now is the time to get the date in the diaries. Will Criminal Minds return? Most definitely! Criminal Minds Season 12 will premiere on CBS on Wednesday, September 28 at 9/8c.

[Featured Image by CBS]

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