Criminal Minds: Scoop on the season 8 premiere and more from Entertainment Weekly's Sandra Gonzalez

Here's some scoop on Criminal Minds from Entertainment Weekly's Sandra Gonzalez's The Spoiler Room column for the week of 8/3/12.

‘CRIMINAL MINDS’: FOUR TEASES FOR THE NEW SEASON

Can’t wait for the premiere of Criminal Minds? I cornered Erica Messer at the wildly fun CBS/CW/Showtime party at TCA recently to get the scoopiest scoop I could get on the upcoming season 8

1. Jeanne Tripplehorn joins the team. You know this. What you may not know? Her rocky history with Strauss (Jayne Atkinson) stemming from a case back in the day in which Strauss let Tripplehorn’s character, Alex Blake, take the blame when things went south. “It’s so heavy,” says Messer. “And she can talk to Strauss like no one else.”

2. Bellamy Young is coming back for at least three episodes. So Beth’s not going anywhere. “We didn’t want to introduce this person who has made him smile and dismiss it because of a contract situation,” she said. “We’ll explain her absence early on. They’ll have a long-distance relationship.”