Criminal Minds Season 10 Premiere, Latest News: Episode 1 Set for October 1 with Kerr Smith to Guest as a Collector of Severed Human Limbs

By Kara Michelle Aug 21, 2014 06:51 AM EDT

Criminal Minds Season 10 will premiere on October 1, Wednesday, at the 9:00-10:00 PM time slot, according to CBS, just before Stalker, a brand new TV drama series.

In the first episode of Season 10, Kerr Smith will guest star as "Frank Cowles," a creepy everyday man who turns out to be an acromotophile, a collector of severed human limbs, according to TVLine. Alicia Coppola on the other hand will appear on the fourth episode, according to another TVLine report, as "Lisa Randall," the head of a Morgellons syndrome support group who's "willing to go as far as she can to protect group members privacy."

Jennifer Love Hewitt will also be joining the Criminal Minds cast as a series regular starting Season 10 according to CBS. She will play "Kate Callahan," an undercover FBI agent who will be reassigned to the Bureau's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). Her character will replace Jeanne Triplehorn's "Dr. Alex Blake" who left the Unit during the Season 9 finale. Hewitt will join cast regulars Joe Mantegna, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, AJ Cook, Kirsten Vangsness and Thomas Gibson.

Of Hewitt and the character she'll be playing, executive producer and showrunner Erica Messer said, "We're thrilled to introduce a new special agent by adding the very talented Jennifer Love Hewitt to our amazing cast. Many of us on the show have enjoyed working with her over the years and look forward to again. We have exciting storylines planned for her character and the entire BAU team as we head into our tenth season."

Aside from Hewitt, if Messer will have her way, the executive producer also wants to have Jane Lynch back for Season 10 of the show. Jane Lynch played "Dr. Diana Reid," the mother of Gubler's "Dr. Spencer Reid" who was still in critical condition when we left him in Season 9. Lynch's "Dr. Reid" has been a recurring character in Seasons 1-4 of Criminal Minds. Said Messer in an interview with TV Guide, "I really want to get Jane back again. This will be interesting to see how we pull that off, and it's right away."