Gideon might be returning to Criminal Minds, but that doesn’t mean Mandy Patinkin is.
TVGuide.com reports that Ben Savage will play a younger version of Mandy Patinkin’s famous character on the series in a series of flashbacks.
Gideon will return in the show’s 13th episode this season. The episode is co-written by showrunner Erica Messer and Kirsten Vangsness and is described as a “love letter” to longtime fans of the series. It will feature flashbacks to the early days of the BAU in the 70’s where a young Gideon and Rossi started. A new case forces Rossi to revisit his past and Robert Dunne will also reprise his role as a young Rossi from Season 8.
The episode will air in January.
Here’s our interview with Kirsten Vangsness: