Criminal Minds season 12: Paget Brewster will return as Emily Prentiss

Paget Brewster is set to return as Interpool Agent Emily Prentiss for multiple episodes in Criminal Minds season 12. The Grandfathered actress quit the CBS series in season 7 finale, and appeared for a guest star role in season 11.

Kirsten Vangsness, who plays Penelope Garcia in the show, announced on Thursday (21 July) at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con that Brewster would join BAU team for season 12. "We're excited to have Paget Brewster back for multiple episodes in our 12th season. The BAU can use more help this year since they've got a lot of known and unknown subjects to catch," Executive producer Erica Messer said a statement.

Brewster took to social media to confirm the news and revealed that she has already begun filming for the show. Posting an image of boots and ID of Prentiss, she wrote, "Yes! I'm shooting a whole bunch of episodes this year @CrimMinds_CBS! And it was so damn hard not telling you."

CBS has also added actor Adam Rodriguez in its cast for season 12. Rodriguez, who will play a FBI Fugitive Task Force agent, will join the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Glenn Geller, President of CBS Entertainment shared, "We're all big fans of Adam's and are excited to welcome him back to the CBS family as part of the terrific cast of Criminal Minds."

This new cast update comes after Shemar Moore, who played Derek Morgan, decided to quit the CBS drama in season 11. , Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer posted a statement addressing Moore's departure. She said, "All of us at Criminal Minds are sad to say 'see you later' to Agent Derek Morgan. Even sadder that our friend Shemar Moore isn't on set anymore. It was definitely a surprise that he wanted 'To leap', as Shemar said, 'to try new things'. For those reasons, we have nothing but love and respect for him and his choice. But it doesn't mean we can't also be really, really sad."

Criminal Minds will return with season 12 on 28 September at 9pm EST on CBS Network.