Sadly the upcoming season of Criminal Minds has been overshadowed by the controversial exit of actor Thomas Gibson. Yet even before Gibson was fired from the series, the show had planned to bring on a new agent for season 12. TVGuide recently caught up with the actor, Adam Rodriquez, who is playing newcomer Luke Alvez. Rodriquez talked about his new role and how it differs from his previous TV crime-solver, Eric Delko from CSI: Miami.
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Rodriquez sat down for a video interview with TVGuide, which is embedded below. The veteran TV actor talked about his character Luke and what he will add to the Criminal Minds team. “I think Luke, among his other attributes, is very perceptive,” Rodriquez explained. “He’s a very street smart guy, he’s used to being on the move all the time. Whether it’s just hunting down bad guys or he used to be in the military and you had to carry everything around you need to survive.”
Though Adam Rodriquez is no stranger to being on a crime procedural, he’s approaching the role from very different than his long stint on CSI: Miami. “It’s such a departure from CSI,” He said of Criminal Minds. “This is really more about the psychology of criminals and getting into their minds and catching them by, sort of, thinking like one of them. You know opposed to the interrogation scene where you get the confession every time. We get to actually — hopefully — catch them in the act before they’ve completed doing anymore bad things.”
Luke Alvez will join the BAU unit on Criminal Minds during the season 12 premiere. As mentioned in Rodriquez’s interview Alvez is a Army veteran. Alvez later became apart of the Fugitive Task Force as an agent and he will join in with the BAU to capture the unsubs who escaped in the season 11 finale. One of the escaped fugitives is the Crimson King who Alvez has a long history with and is described as his “white whale.”
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Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer explains the relationship between Alvez and the Crimson King saying, “Before [Alvez] was in the Fugitive Task Force, he was an agent … and his partner was one of [the Crimson King’s] victims, who wasn’t killed but was paralyzed by the Crimson King. He blames himself a little bit that he didn’t stop this from happening and he also really has a lot of agency in catching this guy.”
Evidently the Crimson King will be the impetus for Alvez joining the BAU team. He will come together with the team to catch the Crimson King. Though the season premiere is titled “The Crimson King” it is likely an investigation that will take the entire season if not longer.
Rodriquez was first brought on to replace Shemar Moore’s spot on the show after he left last season. There are some residual hard feelings about the replacement. Apparently Alvez joining the team will cause Kirsten Vangsness’ Garcia to feel a little bit resentful because it will force her to accept Morgan’s absence.
“I think he knows right away that Garcia is missing this person very much,” Rodriguez said explaining Alvez’s relationship with Garcia. “He understands where it’s all coming from. She doesn’t have anything personal against him; she just wants her friend back.”
But what do you think? Does Rodriguez seem like a good fit for Criminal Minds? Do you like how the show is handling his entrance with Morgan’s exit?
Criminal Minds season 12 will premiere Wednesday September 28 at 9/8c on CBS. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
