UPDATE:
The end of Aaron Hotchner’s tenure as Supervisor Special Agent of the Behavioral Analysis Unit on Criminal Minds has officially ended.
According to Entertainment Weekly, one day after the reports surfaced that Thomas Gibson was involved in a fight on set, CBS officially confirmed that Gibson has been fired from the show. A statement released by ABC Studios and CBS Studios, who both own the show, said “Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from Criminal Minds. Creative details for how the character’s exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.”
Gibson will appear in the first two episodes of the season, as filming had been completed on those episodes prior to his release from his contract, according to Variety. It’s also reported that he will not return to set to finish filming any scenes.
After news broke that Gibson had been fired, former star Shemar Moore posted a video to Instagram that he shared with his Twitter followers that seemed to hint at tension between the two cast members. The video and the tweet have since then been deleted.
Below is the original article that was published on Aug. 11.
After an on-set altercation between Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson and a writer and producer, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Gibson has been suspended for two episodes for the upcoming season.
Gibson, who also had plans to direct an episode this season, has had his directing privileges revoked for the current season. He’s directed six episodes throughout the show’s 11 year run, most recently season 11 episode “Derek,” which featured Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) being kidnapped and tortured. It was one of the last episodes to feature Moore before his departure from the show.
Deadline reported that a similar incident has happened on the show before with Gibson, where he hit pushed a producer and was told to attend anger management classes.
Gibson released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying “There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement. I regret that it occurred. We all want to work together as a team to make the best show possible. We always have and we always will.”
Gibson plays Supervisory Special Agent Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner on the show, a role he’s held since the show started in 2005. Hotch will most likely be written out of the show for the two episodes that Gibson is suspended for.
Hotch has been a part of many memorable storylines since his start on the show, including the season five storyline where George Foyet, an unknown subject on the show known as the Reaper, tracked down Hotch’s wife, Haley, and son, Jack, and poised as an FBI agent and killed Haley as Hotch listened through the phone.
He was also abducted by Mr. Scratch, an unsub from the 10th season, and was forced to live his worst nightmare, which included the team turning their backs on him and killing him. Mr. Scratch will be making multiple appearances in the upcoming 12th season as part of a season-long storyline, similar to the Replicator storyline from season nine.
The news of Gibson’s suspension comes one day after it was announced that Aisha Tyler had been promoted to series regular.
Gibson was seen on-set in a tweet that Matthew Gray Gubler posted on Aug. 10, where the cast was in front of a green screen to film the opening credits to the show. Gibson can be seen directly in the middle of the cast.
Criminal Minds returns to CBS for its 12th season on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 9 p.m. The new season will feature new character, Luke Alvarez, played by Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster reprising her role as Emily Prentiss for some of the episodes in the season.