From DeadlineHollywood
Will Paget Brewster be back on Criminal Minds next season? CBS certainly hopes so, I hear the network recently gave her an offer to return to the crime drama as a full-fledged regular next season. But as part of her modified deal for this season, in which she was asked to scale back her duties as a regular on the show (though she ended up being in every episode so far), Brewster was allowed to do a pilot for next fall, and she is using the opportunity. Brewster has already been approached for 3 Fox comedy pilots. She has comedy history at the network, having co-starred in the underrated Andy Richter Controls the Universe and done voice-over work on American Dad. Brewster is free to do pilots at any network/studio, but because CBS and ABC Studios, which produces Criminal Minds with CBS TV Studios, want her back on the show, I hear CBS, ABC and their studios will be refraining from offering her pilots to not compete with Criminal Minds for her services. "We'd hope that she would stay, she has the option to do so,"CBS' entertainment president Nina Tassler said at TCA last month.
Because of her situation, I hear Brewster's storyline on Criminal Minds this season will end with a cliffhanger that will allow the producers to bring her back or write her off if needed.
Brewster is not the only Criminal Minds cast member whose return to the show next season is uncertain at the moment. The deals for stars Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore are up at the end of this season and I hear the two are nowhere near new pacts. Matthew Gray Gubler and Joe Mantegna have another year on their contracts, though I hear Gubler has been seeking a salary bump. Kristen Vangsness got a new deal in the summer as she also co-stars on the Criminal Minds spinoff.
