Criminal Minds Boss Details Why Daniel Henney Won't Be Back After Wheel Of Time Cancellation
Yes, The Wheel of Time stopped turning — but not soon enough to allow for an awaited Criminal Minds comeback.
Three years ago, when the cast was first announced for Criminal Minds: Evolution, fans wondered why Matthew Gray Gubler's Spencer Reid and Daniel Henney's Matt Simmons were not among the returning Special Agents. (S.W.A.T. star Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan had bid the BAU adieu by the time the original CBS crime drama ended.)
"It's a little bit of a mystery what Reid and Simmons are up to," showrunner Erica Messer told TVLine at the time, "but they're certainly not forgotten." (In Evolution's November 2022 premiere, FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey said of the MIA Reid and Simmons, "Sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss their assignments.")
Regarding the actors' absences, Messer said, "Our hope is that the team members we ended the series with on CBS will be able to come back and play at some point, but everybody does have other projects."
Gubler, for one, finally put in a brief cameo this past season, when Spencer resurfaced to support very good friend JJ (A.J. Cook) during a time of need.
Simmons, though, has yet to be seen — even though Prime Video's The Wheel of Time, to which Henney had been committed since September 2019, was cancelled on May 23 after three seasons (and as reported by my Inside Line column, is not being shopped to find a new home).
Filming on Criminal Minds Season 19 began just a week later, on May 30, making it impossible to shoehorn in a Simmons appearance.
"Oh man, I would love to" have Henney back, Messer told TVLine on July 2. The thing is, "We started our writers room [for Season 19] months ago," and at this point they're halfway done filming the 10 episodes.
"We carefully plot these things out and [scripts were locked down] before Wheel of Time was over," Messer explained. "Look, I'll never say never, right? But for Season 19, anyway, we already had our season plotted before we knew the [cancellation] news. But we love Daniel. We love him."
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