'Big Love's' Jeanne Tripplehorn Joins 'Criminal Minds'

Jeanne Tripplehorn

Jeanne Tripplehorn is going from Fox's New Girl to CBS' Criminal Minds.

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The former Big Love star has joined the CBS veteran procedural as a series regular for its upcoming eighth season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Tripplehorn's casting comes after the actress had a two-episode arc on Fox's freshman Zooey Deschanel comedy as the ex-wife of Dermot Mulroney's character and a year after HBO ended Big Love.

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She'll play a new FBI profiler on the series and help fill the void left by longtime cast member Paget Brewster, whose character Emily Prentiss exited the drama at season's end.

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The actress told THR in April that she was being selective following her run on Big Love.

"There's not a lot out there right now," she said, noting that nothing from the past pilot season really appealed to her. "It's hard after Big Love. The writing was so good. The experience was so rich and so deep and over such a long period of time, I hope that I will have an experience like that again, but it may take a while. It was as gratifying an experience as I've ever had."

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CBS renewed Criminal Minds for an eighth season in March.

Tripplehorn is repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit