Criminal Minds: Why Did Penelope Leave & Return in Evolution?

Criminal Minds fans are asking why Penelope Garcia left the BAU and how she returns in Criminal Minds: Evolution. Kirsten Vangsness’ character has been a major staple of the franchise since the beginning. She initially crossed paths with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) by illegally accessing their equipment. However, she later got an opportunity to serve them using her unique hacking skills in lieu of a jail sentence and spent most of the show doing that until her exit in the Season 15 finale, where she bid farewell to the BAU.

So, when did Penelope Garcia leave Criminal Minds? Why did she leave? How does she come back in Criminal Minds: Evolution? Here are your answers.

When and why did Kirsten Vangsness’ Penelope Garcia leave Criminal Minds?

Kirsten Vangsness’ Penelope Garcia leaves Criminal Minds in the Season 15 finale. She left because she got a new job at a nearby non-profit organization. The new job was less stressful and demanding compared to her work with the FBI’s BAU.

In a 2020 TV Insider interview, Kirsten Vangsness confirmed that Penelope’s exit in the Season 15 finale of Criminal Minds, which she co-wrote with showrunner Erica Messer, thematically represented the audience saying goodbye to the show at that time. Vangsness opined that Penelope was viewed as the eyes of the audience and the one who comments on the nature of situations.

Thus, Vangsness believed that taking Penelope out of the equation by writing her character to leave the BAU in the season finale, and letting the rest of the BAU members do their work, was also a way of letting the audience bid farewell to the show.

How does Penelope Garcia return to Criminal Minds: Evolution?

Penelope Garcia returns in Criminal Minds: Evolution after developments in a Bethesda teenage girl’s abduction case require her expertise.

Initially reluctant to return to her old life, Garcia is thrust back into the BAU’s world by Luke Alvez, who visits her for help tracking down Elias Volt. She does not want to give up her work/life balance and even tells Alvez she would help them only once. Despite this, she eventually changes her mind and readapts to the BAU’s working conditions after realizing how much she missed her old team.