Luke Perry of Riverdale and Beverly Hills 90210 fame played a part on Criminal Minds many years ago. It happened in the 2008 episode, “Minimal Loss.”
In that episode, Perry played a cult leader named Benjamin Cyrus. He was a tough one to crack but the BAU did beat him and he died in that episode.
With that said, Luke Perry returned in episode 300 of Criminal Minds but how is that possible?
How did Luke Perry come back to Criminal Minds?
In the season 13 finale, Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) were kidnapped by a cult of serial killers.
The BAU watched footage of them leaving and tried to decipher any clues they could find. Luckily for them, Reid is a genius and can do more with his right hand than most people can do with their entire bodies.
The BAU watched Reid make eye contact with the security camera and realized that he was giving them a clue. Further viewing saw him give them a clue with one hand using sign language.
“Ben’s Believers.”
That led Rossi to connect the “Ben” in Reid’s message to Benjamin Cyrus, but what did that have to do with the current kidnapping?
“What we do in terms of trying to solve how 300 people have been killed and we didn’t know about it, is we have to dig back into our own history and that history leads us down the path of Luke Perry’s character and his beliefs,” executive producer Erica Messer said. “Knowing that history helps us solve the present-day crime.”
Classic Luke Perry footage
Criminal Minds then did something impressive. They used footage of Luke Perry from 10 years ago in the “Minimal Loss” episode as well as footage of Reid, Prentiss and Rossi from 10 years ago. It was a fun moment with fans seeing how far they had come.
The show then juxtaposed new footage of Meadows and Merva in the church at this time along with the footage from 10 years ago and made the entire new episode tie in with that classic case.
“The way we shot that was incredible and believable,” Messer said. “I wanted the audience to take that away, like ‘My God, was she there?’ She was not.”
Criminal Minds airs on Wednesdays at
Stream Criminal Minds: Evolution exclusively on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.