Former Tulsan Jeanne Tripplehorn will star as Alex Blake in the CBS drama "Criminal Minds," returning Sept. 26 on CBS. MONTY BRINTON/CBS
Don't look for former Tulsan Jeanne Tripplehorn's character to be a troublemaker on "Criminal Minds" despite what you may have heard.
But Tripplehorn's Alex Blake will find it tough going to fit into the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, executive producer Erica Messer told tvguide.com.
"Anytime there's a very close co-worker environment, as we have here, it's hard," Messer told the website. "There's just a natural hesitation to accept but in that friendly way. She certainly doesn't have an ulterior motive or anything."
Messer previously described Alex Blake, who makes her debut in the season premiere of the CBS drama series Sept. 26, as a "threat" to the team. But, she said it's just a matter of a new person joining a tightly knit group, according to the website.
In the interview, Messer also spilled several "spoilers" for the series' upcoming eighth season.
For one, Tripplehorn's Alex will be doing double duty as both a member of BAU and as a linguistics professor at Georgetown where Reid (played by Matthew Gray Gubler) has been a guest-lecturer. So she may be seen teaching in future episodes, according to the executive producer.
"She's never left; she does both," Messer reportedly said. "She's like agent by day, professor whenever she can. Hotch (Thomas Gibson) and Rossi (Joe Mantegna) have known her from her career in the Bureau."
Alex and Strauss (Jayne Atkinson) also have a history together.
"There are some professional backstabbing issues with Strauss," Messer told tvguide.com. "Blake talks to Strauss in a way no one else does.
"She's a woman, they've got a history clearly, and there's no patience for it. It's like, 'I've got a plane to catch, so are we done?' Someone's gonna put Strauss in her place and it's gonna be Alex. She's got a different voice and I think you guys will see it right away. She's very grounded and she's no bullsh--."
The season will open with Alex having already joined the team and Morgan (Shemar Moore) and Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) meeting her for the first time.
"[Alex] and Morgan, clearly do things differently and they discuss it that episode," Messer told the website. "Garcia is just like, 'Who is this new person?'
"...They work through everything. By the end of that episode, they have mended any fences. Garcia says, 'Can we start over?' We just wanna tell our story with the heroes that we know and trust. They welcome somebody new into their team, and we hope the audience will too."
Turns out Alex also has a significant other and they only see each other by using Skype because he's with Doctors Without Borders.
Also coming up this season, according to the website's interview, Hotch will have a long-distance relationship, Reid and a girlfriend will bond over their love of an author and an unidentified subject will make several appearances during the season as a criminal who sews his victims' mouths shut.
"We're calling him The Replicator, unofficially. We'll probably see him five or six times (throughout the season)."
Here's a cast interview from Comic-Con, including Tulsa native Jeanne Tripplehorn.
