10 things that could happen now that Prentiss is returning to ‘Criminal Minds’

One of the best parts of this show is when the team hangs out together, and Prentiss, Garcia and JJ are known for their totally excellent ladies’ nights, during which they’ve gotten super drunk, learned to salsa and busted a dude who pretended to work for the FBI (not all on the same night). Prentiss coming back means more shenanigans from the ladies, hopefully including SSA Tara Lewis. 

When Prentiss returned for one episode in Season 11, we learned that she was involved with a hot British dude named Mark, but we don’t know anything about him (other than hot and British). Since it looks like Prentiss is going to be back stateside with the BAU, we might learn more about Mark and what’s been going on between them. Or the writers will pretend he never existed. Either one.

It’s going to take a long time for both Criminal Minds fans and the members of the BAU to absorb the loss of Derek Morgan, but having our beloved Prentiss back might help distract us and them from mourning.

Morgan’s gone, Prentiss is back, and the BAU is about to have a new team member: Adam Rodriguez will be joining the cast as a Fugitive Task Force agent. Will he become like family, or will it be a bumpy road? 

Brewster confirmed that she’s shooting “a whole bunch” of CM episodes this year but didn’t state that she’s going to join the cast full time again. That means she’ll be around and then ripped away from us again, but how?

The CM writers have done a thorough job of giving Prentiss a rich past to draw from. She was a diplomat’s kid who lived all over the world and spoke many languages, she went undercover (remember that time she died?), and even her brief visit to Quantico in Season 11 relied on her recent past as a plot device. Prentiss’ return to the show will likely involve more of her backstory, which is always compelling. 

There’s never been a season of Criminal Minds in which we haven’t feared for the life of a major character, and the writers don’t always wait until the end of the season to leave us on the edge of our seats. Now that Prentiss is returning, we can surely expect her to get almost killed at least once. 

At the end of Season 11, a bunch of serial killers escaped (whoops), and Prentiss’ return will probably have something to do with the BAU calling her back to help them revisit these old cases in order to capture said serial killers. Maybe there will be some flashbacks to previous seasons, perhaps involving the hairstyles of yore? 

Will Prentiss stay? Will she go? Will this be the final season of Criminal Minds? If it’s not, will the door be left open for Prentiss to come back after Season 12? Prentiss’ return definitely creates more questions than answers. 

Regardless of what comes with her return (even if it’s more bloodshed, which it totally will be), it will be excellent to have her back on the show, since she was such a pivotal part of the team and its family dynamic for so long.

Let’s not let a bunch of serial killers distract us from our joy.