In the past 48 hours, I'm pretty sure Thomas Gibson's name has been said more times than it has in the past 48 months, as the actor is at the center of a very public ousting from the hit CBS drama Criminal Minds, on which he's been a star for the past eleven seasons. As you might imagine, Gibson himself had something to say about the calamitous situation, but you might not imagine that he would take the highest road possible on the issue. Here's the statement he put out there.
I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last twelve years. I had hoped to see it through to the end, but that won't be possible now. I would just like to say thank you to the writers, producers, actors, our amazing crew, and, most importantly, the best fans that a show could ever hope to have.
Power to Thomas Gibson for keeping his emotions in check over what is possibly the biggest setback in his career, especially considering it was his anger that got him in trouble in the first place. It is, of course, entirely possible that the coming weeks will see the actor loosening his lips about his side of the story and getting more candid about how things went down. (That's assuming there's more dirty laundry that what's already been aired out.) But the best decision to make in the immediate aftermath is just what he did in his statement, as reported by Deadline: take the hit and show appreciation for having had a steady gig for over a decade.
The incident in question occurred a couple of weeks ago, on the set of a Season 12 episode that Thomas Gibson was directing, but it was only in the last day or two that the news started spreading around. Apparently, Gibson had an issue that he took up with the episode's writer Virgil Williams, and things allegedly took a negative turn, with Gibson getting so worked up that he kicked Williams. While it's not clear what went on in the interim, the show suspended Gibson, but apparently it was decided that wasn't harsh enough, and he was officially fired from the show earlier today.
At this point, it isn't clear how Criminal Minds is going to handle getting Hotch written out of the story, which is going to be huge in Season 12, as there are a handful of those escaped serial killers still out there causing hell. When it was just a suspension, Hotch would presumably have taken an assignment elsewhere for a couple of episodes, but we'll probably see something far more permanent happen now that he's out for good. Will Hotch end up being one of the killers' victims?
With Agent Hotchner no longer a part of the crew, Criminal Minds will definitely be welcoming back Emily Prentiss with open arms for its return to CBS for Season 12 on Wednesday, September 28, at 9:00 p.m. ET. To see when everything else is coming to the smalls screen later this year, check out our fall TV schedule.
