‘Criminal Minds’ Season 13 Spoilers: Thomas Gibson Returns? Matthew Gray Gubler Teases ‘Spookiest’ Episode Yet

Criminal Minds Season 13 will be premiering in September on CBS with several cast shakeups. While the show was able to survive one whole season without its lead actor, Thomas Gibson, many fans are still hoping to see his character, Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner back on the series. What are the odds of seeing Gibson back?

Criminal Minds is entering its 13th season on air, and while the CBS drama continues to be one of the network’s strongest shows on air, many fans can’t help but express their frustration towards the series. As most fans can recall, there was a major behind-the-scenes drama after Thomas Gibson was suddenly fired from the show due to an alleged altercation with one of the series’ writers.

Many viewers felt that it was not right for Criminal Minds to continue without its lead character, Hotch; thus, online petitions and the hashtag, #NoHotchNoWatch came to fruition. The show was also quite severely affected by Gibson’s exit, as ratings dropped during Season 12 despite the fact that the CBS series introduced a major arc on Matthew Gray Gubler’s character, Spencer Reid.

So what are the odds that Hotch will be back on Criminal Minds Season 13? As of this writing, it seems like the chances are slim, as an interview with TV Guide with showrunner Erica Messer revealed that there has been no discussion on bringing Gibson back to the show, at least not in the show’s immediate future.

Messer, however, was still optimistic that fans would still stick around despite Hotch’s absence from Criminal Minds. The showrunner also admitted that nothing is set in stone, so the possibility of bringing Gibson back is still there.

“It’s hard to do those kinds of things. I think you saw that with Mandy [Patinkin] and we were never able to see him again.”

While it looks like Hotch will be a no-show once again this season, Criminal Minds Season 13 spoilers from TV Line tease that Matthew Gray Gubler will be directing an episode. The actor told the publication that this particular episode is bound to be the “spookiest episode” of the season.

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Gubler seemed quite excited to produce an episode for Criminal Minds Season 13, but he refused to divulge any details for the said episode. The actor, however, provided one interesting hint on the episode and said that this has something to do with a clown.

Do you think Thomas Gibson should return to Criminal Minds Season 13 as Hotch?

[Featured Image by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images]