Development
Reid is a genius and autodidact who graduated from a Las Vegas public high school at age 12. He has an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words per minute (an average American adult reads prose text at 250 to 300 words per minute). He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Caltech, in addition to a Ph.D. in Chemistry, as well as B.A.s in Psychology and Sociology.
Reid is 23 in the pilot episode, having joined the unit when he was 22. His fellow team members almost always introduce him as Dr. Reid. Hotch revealed in the first season that Gideon insisted on introducing him as Dr. Reid because Gideon feared that, because of his age, Reid would not be taken seriously as an FBI agent. This was a genuine concern, both for in-universe and for audience acceptance, since in real life the minimum age to become an FBI Special Agent is 23, with at least three more years to obtain Supervisory Special Agent status, and appointments to the BAU usually not occurring until after at least eight to ten years in the FBI. Also, while filming the pilot, the show's FBI consultant informed Matthew Gray Gubler there was nothing realistic about his character.
Before Gubler was cast in the role, the character was originally envisioned as more like Data from Star Trek. However, the producers liked Gubler's softer interpretation, despite telling the actor he was wrong for the part. After several callbacks, he was hired.
During October 2012, series creator Jeff Davis tweeted Reid was originally envisioned to be bisexual, but the network shut the idea down by the fourth episode where Reid develops a crush on his colleague, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau.
Read more about this topic: Spencer Reid
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“Dissonance between family and school, therefore, is not only inevitable in a changing society; it also helps to make children more malleable and responsive to a changing world. By the same token, one could say that absolute homogeneity between family and school would reflect a static, authoritarian society and discourage creative, adaptive development in children.”
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