Felicity Huffman Teases Her New Major TV Role After College Admissions Scandal

The actress makes her debut on 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' on Thursday, July 11

Felicity Huffman is 48 hours away from her big return to the small screen.

On Thursday, July 11, the actress makes her debut as Dr. Jill Gideon on Criminal Minds: Evolution in the show's season 17 midseason premiere.

In an interview with TVLine, Huffman, 61, discussed what fans can expect from her character — the ex-wife of Mandy Patinkin's Jason Gideon, who was killed off-screen — who is a therapist.

Huffman said that her character was "deeply involved at the beginning of the BAU." And when Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) suggests involving her again, Rossi (Joe Mantegna) isn't exactly on board.

Mantegna told the outlet there's "a lot of ground we dig up, a lot of backstory to be told, involving Jill, my character, Gideon's character and with the rest of the people on the team."

Huffman said that Jill "airs her dirty laundry in front of sort of everybody" during her arc.

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In April, PEOPLE confirmed that Huffman would be guest starring on the Criminal Minds spinoff as a "brilliant biological psychiatrist who agrees to help the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit to investigate a murderous conspiracy theory."

“Jill is reluctant to return to the bureau’s elite team given her complicated history with David Rossi (Mantegna) and her dead ex-husband, Jason Gideon (Patinkin), but soon realizes her specific skill set could help them uncover another clue to the elusive Gold Star mystery,” per the official description of the character.

Her husband, William H. Macy, said that Huffman had a "great time" filming the role, and revealed that he "went to visit her on the set a couple of times."

"I think she did a great job, too. I'm really glad she's working," he told Entertainment Tonight in May.

Macy, 74, also shared that the longtime couple "give each other each other's scripts and we give each other notes" ahead of new roles. "We somehow make it work."

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The role marks one of the actress' first major roles since her involvement in the college admissions scandal, for which she completed a sentence that included jail time, community service and supervised release. She appeared on The Good Doctor in 2023 and was supposed to headline a spinoff for the medical drama, but ABC ultimately scrapped the project.

In May 2019, Huffman pleaded guilty to paying Rick Singer $15,000 to have a proctor change her daughter Sophia's answers after she took the SAT, and went on to serve 11 of a 14-day prison sentence.

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