Elle Greenaway probably won't be back in Criminal Minds: Evolution

There are only two OG Criminal Minds characters left in Criminal Minds: Evolution. In fact, only one of them was in the series premiere—Penelope Garcia. JJ didn’t appear until the second episode. With many characters leaving, there are hopes that some would return.

Elle Greenaway was the first female member of the BAU. Played by Lola Glaudini, she made it clear to Morgan that she wanted the open spot on the BAU and asked him how she could get it. She needed to follow her gut, which is what she did, and the rest is history.

Glaudini left the series after two seasons. Greenaway’s resignation led to Paget Brewster’s Emily Prentiss to come into the show. As much as some fans would love to see Greenaway back, that’s not likely to happen.

Character returns need a personal reason in Criminal Minds: Evolution

Showrunner Erica Messer has already said that there needs to be a personal reason for a character to return to the series. There are only Garcia and JJ left for Greenaway to have a connection to on the team, and neither was really all that close to her throughout the series. JJ didn’t have the friendship that she has with Prentiss, and Garcia’s connections have always been with the likes of Morgan and now Luke.

So, without that personal element, we already lower the chances of seeing Greenaway back. The only thing that could bring her in is if there is a case that has a personal element to her. Yet, with the way Greenaway was written out, that’s unlikely.

Greenaway resigned from the BAU. She was shot by an UnSub who broke into her home, leading to her developing PTSD. She came back to work too quickly, and it led to her killing an UnSub involved in a serial rapist case. After this, she resigned from the BAU and that was the end of her character in the series.

Lola Glaudini may have wanted to leave the series

Screen Rant reports that while Lola Glaudini never spoke out about leaving, it does look like it was her decision to leave. She wasn’t happy with being in Los Angeles and wanted to move back to the East Coast.

The show respected that by giving Greenaway an ending that was true to her character and offered her an opportunity to return in some capacity should she want to in the future. It’s just unlikely that will happen now after so many years.