Disturbingly Dark Spencer Reid Theory Even Criminal Minds Star Approves

Season 16, subtitled Evolution, brought back many of the beloved characters and delved deeper into the criminal minds of the unsubs they hunt.

However, some of the characters weren't featured this season, which makes the audience speculate as to what might have happened to them.

Recently, a user on Twitter posted a clip to illustrate their theory regarding the show's two important characters, Emily Prentiss and Dr. Spencer Reid. Their hypothesis was rather crazy and dark — dark enough to rival the show's writing, for sure — and it went viral over the Internet, even catching the attention of Paget Brewster, the actress portraying Prentiss.

But before we go into the details of the Twitterer's theory, let's recap a few facts about Prentiss and Reid from earlier seasons.

In season six, after a dangerous encounter with serial killer and former IRA member Ian Doyle, Emily had to stage her own death to avoid being stalked by the criminal and to provide privacy for Doyle's son.

In the final scene, we see the former agent in Paris, where JJ gives her three passports from different countries. Emily disappears for a while to return to the series in a later season.

At that time, the other BAU agents did not know their colleague was still alive, as they were told that she had been mortally wounded by Doyle and hadn't made it to the operating table. Now, that brings us back to the Twitterer's disturbing idea — according to the theory, Prentiss' death had severely affected the mental state of one genius BAU member — that is, Dr. Spencer Reid.

'And Dr. Spencer Reid falling victim to the curse of his mentor Jason Gideon had a PTSD-related meltdown over his friend and co-worker's death. He now resides in a psychiatric care unit of the Georgetown University hospital,' the Twitterer's clip says.

As a result of his friend's tragic death, Reid developed a mental disorder, which caused him to hallucinate, imagining that Emily's death had been staged and that she's alive and well and — actually, we know the contents of his visions from viewing the show's later seasons.

So according to the fan's theory, every single scene featuring Emily we see after season six is only a figment of Spencer Reid's schizophrenic imagination, and the real Emily has been dead all this time. Pretty disturbing, isn't it?

As brilliant as it is, this dark hypothesis is still only a fan theory. As we know from Evolution, Emily Prentiss became the head of the BAU, and it's unlikely that the writers are preparing to make any unexpected revelations regarding her "death."

More importantly, the series' renewal for a 17th season has been announced, so there's a chance we may see Dr. Spencer Reid himself taking part in an investigation sooner or later (and we sincerely hope he hasn't actually developed schizophrenia).