{"id":252173,"date":"2026-07-16T12:16:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/criminal-minds-star-joe-mantegna-addresses-chances-of-felicity-huffman-returning-as-a-love-interest\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:16:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:16:57","slug":"criminal-minds-star-joe-mantegna-addresses-chances-of-felicity-huffman-returning-as-a-love-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/criminal-minds-star-joe-mantegna-addresses-chances-of-felicity-huffman-returning-as-a-love-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Criminal Minds\u2019 Star Joe Mantegna Addresses Chances of Felicity Huffman Returning as a Love Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Criminal Minds<\/em><\/a> introduced Felicity Huffman<\/strong><\/a> as Joe Mantegna<\/strong>\u2018s potential love interest, but could the actress return following her surprise exit?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Mantegna, 78, who plays Rossi, quipped during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly<\/em> while reflecting on his onscreen journey. \u201cI was just going to say that, as you know, I\u2019ve worked my way through three wives and one of them twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mantegna expressed his hopes for<\/a> seeing his character fall in love again.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor David, I\u2019ve not had a lot of good luck in the romance department,\u201d he continued. \u201cInteresting you bring up Felicity, because she\u2019s someone I\u2019ve known since she was in college, basically, because she\u2019s married to William H. Macy, who\u2019s somebody I\u2019ve known for probably almost 50 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>\u2018Criminal Minds\u2019 Cast: Then and Now<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tCriminal Minds is back with a revival on Paramount+\u00a0\u2014 but fans have watched the cast change on and off screen since the procedural first debuted. In 2005, viewers were introduced to a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The crime drama, which was created by [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The actor told Us<\/em> he was glad he \u201calready\u201d had a \u201cconnection\u201d with Huffman, 63, before she joined the show.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where it will go,\u201d he added, \u201cbut I often am as excited as everyone to know where they\u2019re headed with something like that. So we\u2019ll see. But as of right now, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s in the future on that side of the street for David Rossi.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Season 17 of Criminal Minds<\/em><\/a> introduced Huffman in the role of Jill Gideon, the ex-wife of Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin<\/strong>). In addition to helping the BAU on a case, Jill reconnected with Rossi, which hinted at her possibly returning to the show in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelicity was such a gift to us. She and Joe have known one another for 40 years, so it was like kismet that we were able to get her. There\u2019s sort of a shortcut [in] getting a character to come in with all of that history of the BAU,\u201d showrunner Erica Messer<\/strong> told Us<\/em> in June 2024. \u201cIt is just acknowledging the fact that we\u2019ve had two decades of getting to know all these people in this world that they\u2019ve been trying to keep safe all these years. And so, [we\u2019re] acknowledging who\u2019s been here before and maybe who can come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messer pointed out at the time that Jill and Rossi still had unfinished business.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with Felicity, it feels like she and Joe \u2014 she and Rossi \u2014 aren\u2019t quite done yet,\u201d she teased. \u201cBut she was such a huge help in bridging the gap [with story lines]. Her filling in those blanks with us \u2014 she just fit right in, didn\u2019t she? She\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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