Looks like a new profiler is headed to the Behavioral Analysis Unit on CBS’ Criminal Minds as Variety has reported that Adam Rodriguez has joined the cast of the long-running FBI procedural.
Rodriguez’s character will be a series regular for its upcoming 12th season. His character is a part of the FBI Fugitive Task Force, which is part of the BAU. He’ll first premiere in the season 12 premiere, which will pick up where the season 11 finale left off in the beginning of May after the team gets a phone call saying that there was another mass prison escape.
Other details of his character have yet to be announced.
Rodriguez is well-known for his role of Eric Delko on CBS’ police procedural CSI: Miami, where he was a main cast member in seasons one through seven and seasons nine and ten. He was a special guest star in season eight, as he only appeared in a few of the episodes. He also made crossover appearances in the original CSI.
Rodriguez has most recently made appearances in season two of NBC’s The Night Shift, season two of The CW’s Jane the Virgin and season two of Fox’s Empire. Movie wise, he starred as Tito in Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL and was present in the episode of Lip Sync Battle where Magic Mike co-star Channing Tatum competed against his wife, Jenna Dewan Tatum. He’s briefly seen when Dewan Tatum was lip syncing and dancing to Ginuwine’s song, Pony.
When the news of the casting was released, Glenn Geller, the president of CBS Entertainment, said “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.”
Erica Messer, the showrunner and executive producer of the show, echoed Geller’s sentiments, saying “We’re thrilled to introduce a new special agent by adding the very talented Adam Rodriguez to our amazing cast. We have exciting storylines planned for his character and the entire BAU team as we head into our 12th season.”
Rodriguez’s character is expected to be the replacement for Shemar Moore, who’s onscreen alter ego, Derek Morgan, left the show in the middle of the 11th season, after his character had been tortured and almost lost his wife and unborn son in some of his last episodes on air.
Criminal Minds will premiere on CBS in its usual Wednesday at 9 p.m. timeslot. No premiere date has been announced yet.