‘Criminal Minds’ season 12: Boss opens up on Thomas Gibson’s exit
It’s taken a long time for many of the various people associated with “Criminal Minds” to start to speak out regarding what happened with Thomas Gibson, and while that may be frustrating to some, we almost understand it. This is an emotional, difficult situation for many, given that he was a part of the show and a part of the family for so many years. There are also legal issues that make things challenging, and we imagine that for many, it’s easier to just try to move forward.
With all of this said, we did at least get a sense of what it was like for showrunner Erica Messer to write out Gibson’s Aaron Hotcher in a new piece of at TVLine — she could not offer up much about Gibson the actor and what happened to cause his exit, but she did speak about the process of trying to write out someone who was so important to the show effectively with little to no time to plan:
“I was really sad writing the episode where I had to say goodbye [to the character], because I knew that no matter what you do, it’s never going to be perfect. You’re not going to please everyone, especially when you don’t have the face there to say goodbye to … Given what was in front of us — I wrote that and Matthew [Gray Gubler] directed it — it was done with such love and care for the history of the show and that character and the hero that he is and will continue to be, in the eyes of the team and most importantly the eyes of his son. He gave up being an American hero to be a hero to Jack, and I do feel proud of that.”
We know that Hotch is out there somewhere in witness protection while Mr. Scratch is on the loose, and we do know that in the event this character is caught, there’ll be some questions about why the character cannot come back. This could prove tricky for the writers to weave, but at the same time, maybe you just argue that Hotch and Jack are enjoying a normal life and don’t need this frustration anymore. We much prefer that Messer and the writers chose to let him live rather than kill him off. You don’t punish the character just because the actor was dismissed from the show; a great example of that gone terribly wrong is the series finale of “Two and a Half Men,” which was so self-indulgent that it made our head explode.
In the end, we cannot speak too much on Hotch’s exit. We weren’t there. Obviously the character is greatly missed, but the show did what they felt was right in the situation.
“Criminal Minds” is on hiatus until February, but you can check out a full review for this past installment over here. You can also share your thoughts on the subject of Hotch’s exit below. (Photo: CBS.)