‘Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders’ spoilers: One reason for Anna Gunn’s departure

As much as we are excited to see what the “Criminal Minds” production staff does with its upcoming spin-off subtitled “Beyond Borders,” we also have to admit at the same time to having a little bit of anxiety over it. After all, the show is losing one of their potentially most-viable names before the first season even airs in Anna Gunn.

The “Breaking Bad” alum was a huge part of the pilot alongside Gary Sinise, but as many pilots often do undergo many creative tweaks between the pilot and the series. The unfortunate thing for “Beyond Borders” is that their pilot was actually seen by everyone who watched “Criminal Minds” last season. Everyone already knows about the character.

So in learning a little bit more about why this recasting has happened, we turn to what CBS programming head Nina Tassler told TVLine recently: “Gary [Sinise] is sort of larger than life and [as Jack Garrett] he filled a lot of the same [needs as Gunn’s character].”

While not particularly revealing, Tassler did add that the show is going to cast several new roles that will suit exactly what this show needs. Do we think that “Beyond Borders” will be a hit when the dust settles? Right now, we’re unsure. Midseason shows are always a tossup, and the last attempt by this series to launch a new show in “Suspect Behavior” tanked. We do like the idea of this particular show much more, but that is still not any sort of guarantee that it will be a success when the dust settles.

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