Felicity Huffman Previews Criminal Minds Debut — Will Gideon’s Ex Air the OG BAU’s Dirty Laundry?

When last we tuned into Paramount+’s Criminal Minds: Evolution , Rossi revealed to the team, in dramatic fashion, that the mysterious “North Star” entity that inspired Gold Star is in fact the BAU itself .

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To illustrate his alarming point, he distributed copies of a white paper that he and Jason Gideon drafted — but never submitted — back in the ’90s, which in essence suggested a “recipe” for creating a serial killer.

When Season 17 resumes this Thursday, Prentiss (played by Paget Brewster) will be itching to reach out to Gideon’s ex-wife, who was also involved with the BAU 30 years ago — though Rossi will make quite clear his wish that Dr. Jill Gideon is not enlisted to their current cause.

Rossi’s reaction to Prentiss’ proposal is one of “ ecstatic delight,” portrayer Joe Mantegna sarcastically quipped during our recent Q&A with both him and Felicity Huffman, who begins her arc as Jill this Thursday. “It doesn’t necessarily land with bells and whistles.”

In the episodes to come, “There’s a lot of ground we dig up, a lot of backstory to be told, involving Jill, my character, Gideon’s character, and with the rest of the people on the team,” Mantegna teased.

So, who is Jill Gideon, anyway? Showrunner Erica Messer shared with TVLine that an early version of the CBS series’ 2005 pilot offered up more information on Jason Gideon’s (original cast member Mandy Patinkin) ex-wife, but it wound up on the cutting room floor.

“It never made it to air, but there was this idea that Gideon’s ex was his therapist,” Messer said. “So it’s been stuck in my mind for a long time, ‘Oh, that thing exists,’ and I always felt like it’d be a fun nod to the fans who’ve been watching a long time — hey, we have this really deep pull! — but it also works if you never knew Gideon, because you’re learning it through the eyes of Rossi and everyone else who knew Gideon.”

Desperate Housewives alum Huffman herself said of Jill, “I can tell you that she was deeply involved at the beginning of the BAU. She and Rossi and her husband were the pioneers. Then she got divorced from Gideon, because it wasn’t working, but they stayed friends — and she even kept being his therapist.”

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When Jason was years later killed by an Unsub, off-screen in a Season 10 episode, “That’s when she went, ‘OK, I’m done, I’m out,'” Huffman noted. “She just couldn’t be around it.”

As such, when Prentiss eventually shows up on Jill’s doorstep, the shrink has, to put it lightly, mixed feelings about opening the door to this unexpected visitor.

“She likes Prentiss. They have a deep history,” Huffman said, “but initially, it’s that knock you never want to get. You’re like, ‘Oh, I do not want you at my door, because it cannot be good news. I am not answering it no matter what.”

But when Emily reveals that “Controllable Variables on Emerging Teenage Psychopathy” did not get 100% buried but somehow was leaked into the wild, “a sense of personal responsibility” nudges Jill to hear her old friend out, Huffman previewed — though she does so “kicking and screaming.”

As you may glean, Messer’s “deep pull” from Criminal Minds canon promises to reveal a new thing or two about the BAU’s beginnings, the years that preceded where the long-running drama first picked up.

“That happens. Jill airs her dirty laundry in front of sort of everybody ,” Huffman affirmed, “but particularly with [Rossi].”

Want scoop on Criminal Minds: Evolution , or for any other TV show ? Email InsideLine@tvline.com , and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!

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