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‘Criminal Minds’ Season 12 Will Not See Thomas Gibson Despite #NoHotchNoWatch Boycott

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 05:38 PST, Nov 16, 2016

Despite the #NoHotchNoWatch boycott from fans, there are no plans to bring Thomas Gibson back for Criminal Minds. Fans are standing firm, causing a ratings drop. However, the executive producers and both CBS and ABC networks are not willing to budge. The news comes after writer Virgil Williams spoke out about the summer altercation.

During the summer months, Gibson was suspended and then later fired from Criminal Minds. Fans heard that there had been an altercation between both Gibson and writer Williams, and there was some violence involved. Both parties tell a slightly different story of the same event, and it is difficult to know whose story is completely true.

According to Gibson, he only ended up kicking the writer when he came at him. According to Williams, Gibson kicked him without provocation. However, they both do admit that there were words spoken when Gibson wasn’t happy with a line. The actor says that he did later apologize, but Williams wasn’t happy with the outcome.

Gibson was fired because it wasn’t the first time he had been violent on the Criminal Minds set. This was his third strike, and both the producers and networks had had enough. Despite fans calling for Gibson to be returned to Criminal Minds Season 12, it is not going to happen. It looks like everyone is willing for the show to come to an end, rather than listen to those who are continually boycotting the show and causing the large ratings drop.

According to iTech Post, Williams has no intention of working with Gibson again due to the altercation. This suggests that the CBS show will continue to keep Gibson’s character Hotch out of it. Many fans want to see the writer punished for his part in the altercation and would rather see the actor back and the writer gone.

Right now there are no concrete plans for the way that Hotch will be permanently written out of the show. This would suggest that the producers are considering him coming back sometime in the future. Hotch was in the first two episodes of Criminal Minds Season 12 and then left to be on a special assignment. This assignment was only supposed to be temporary to account for Gibson’s suspension.

It isn’t clear whether the producers and writers plan to kill Hotch off behind the scenes or have him transferred without anyone seeing him. Fans aren’t happy that they won’t get to see him again, even if it is going to be the last episode.

The exit of Hotch has caused a divide with fans. While many boycotted the show with the #NoHotchNoWatch and #StillMissingHotch hashtags on social media, others are complaining that the boycotters aren’t the true fans. They only care about one character and not the show as a whole, according to those still watching the show.

Some fans also stopped watching during Criminal Minds Season 11 due to Shemar Moore’s exit from the show. While this was Moore’s choice, the departure of Derek Morgan was difficult for many fans to deal with. The new arrival of Adam Rodriguez’s Luke Alvez hasn’t been enough to satisfy these fans.

Criminal Minds Season 12 continues to air on CBS. There was a week’s break two weeks ago when the MLB World Series aired, but it returned last week with a new episode. There are now just three more episodes left in the first half of the season, with the show going on its winter break after the December 7 episode.

Fans will need to wait and see how Hotch’s permanent exit will be handled. Those boycotting Criminal Minds Season 12 should be aware that there are no plans to bring Gibson back to the show.

[Featured Image by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images]

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