Criminal Minds dominated the airwaves for over a decade before concluding its original run with a 15th season. Over the original 15 seasons of Criminal Minds prior to the revival titled Criminal Minds: Evolution, multiple agents have joined and later departed the Behavioral Analysis Unit. These agents played a big role in shaping the story of Criminal Minds and crafted personal storylines that allowed viewers to connect to the series’ main characters.
Throughout Criminal Minds, certain agents have had incredibly emotional tenures on the series. These emotional connections added more poignancy to the circumstances of their exit from Criminal Minds and affected fans as much as the characters themselves. One of the best parts of Criminal Minds is its strong character development, exemplified by how certain characters left the series.
5 Penelope Garcia Had an Emotional Exit on Criminal Minds
Penelope Garcia Earned Her Time Away from the FBI
First Appearance
Season 1, Episode 1, “Extreme Agressor”
Last Appearance
Season 15, Episode 10, “…And In The End”
Circumstances for Exit
Resignation for Career Change
Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia is one of the most popular characters in Criminal Minds. The bubbly tech whiz got her start as a hacker before being arrested by the FBI and turned into a government asset. Now reformed, Garcia uses her genius to help the BAU save lives and take down serial killers. Garcia is a very emotionally vulnerable character which makes her compassionate, but also very affected by the horrors she sees on a daily basis. At the end of what was meant to be the final season, Garcia leaves the BAU to work for a charity organization. Her sendoff is handled well, and it feels like an appropriate end to this chapter in Garcia’s story.
Garcia would later return in the revival series Criminal Minds: Evolution. Her returning to the FBI does make sense for her character, as she will always help friends in need. Garcia provides an essential service for her team, and it’s hard to see the BAU solving this new mystery at the core of the revival series without Garcia’s tech skills. Since the Criminal Minds revival series is set years after the original series finale, her reintroduction in the revival does not invalidate the emotional nature of her exit from the original series.
4
Section Chief Erin Strauss Left Criminal Minds in a Shocking Manner
Fans and Erin Strauss Did Not See This Twist Coming
First Appearance
Season 2, Episode 23. “No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank”
Last Appearance
Season 9, Episode 24, “The Replicator”
Circumstances for Exit
KIA – Murdered
Section Chief Erin Strauss is one of the most complex recurring characters to appear on Criminal Minds. Originally, Strauss operates in an antagonist role within the story as a politically motivated authority figure who sees the team as dysfunctional under the leadership of team leader SSA Aaron Hotchner. Strauss even goes so far as to plant SSA Emily Prentiss on the team as a spy, though Emily resigns as a result and only returns when she is no longer tasked with this objective.
As the series goes on, Strauss approaches the BAU with less scrutiny and becomes a cautious ally of the team. The BAU supports her when her struggles with addiction are discovered. Unfortunately, Strauss’s addiction is weaponized when a serial killer known as The Replicator forces her to drink poisoned alcohol at gunpoint. Hotch finds her too late and stays with her, fulfilling her last wish of not dying alone. Strauss’ murder contributed to the idea that the serial killer The Replicator was a threat unlike any they had faced before and made him one of the deadliest killers the BAU had ever faced.
3
Derek Morgan Left the FBI For a Powerful Reason
Derek Morgan’s Exit From Criminal Minds was Bittersweet
First Appearance
Season 1, Episode 1, “Extreme Aggressor”
Last Appearance
Season 11, Episode 18, “A Beautiful Disaster”
Circumstances for Exit
Resigned from FBI to Focus on Family
Derek Morgan is another of the original BAU team members in Criminal Minds. Derek Morgan is the unofficial muscle of the team and has an experienced law enforcement background from his time as an officer in the Chicago Police Department. Morgan’s strength is not just physical but emotional as well. He has a grounded personality and kept the team level as they handled some truly horrific cases. Morgan is a fan-favorite character and helped make Criminal Minds a popular show, so his exit needed to be handled perfectly.
Morgan’s exit was a well-thought-out operation. In the 11th season of Criminal Minds, the team is working to capture a network of hitmen. Morgan and his pregnant wife Savannah are targeted by Chazz Montolo, the father of one of the deceased hitmen, Giuseppe Montolo. Morgan being targeted by a UNSUB’s father on the brink of his own impending fatherhood was a great parallel. Montolo was eventually defeated and Morgan was able to be there for the birth of his son. Morgan shared an emotional goodbye with his team before resigning to spend time with his family. It was a beautiful and sad exit but a well-done sendoff for a great character.
2
The Original Profiler of Criminal Minds Jason Gideon Bent Until He Eventually Broke
Jason Gideon Had a Storied Career and Experienced Great Losses
First Appearance
Season 1, Episode 1, “Extreme Aggressor”
Last Appearance
Season 3, Episode 1, “Doubt”
Circumstances for Exit
Resignation after Emotional Trauma- Later Murdered
Jason Gideon is a living legend in Criminal Minds. Jason Gideon is one of the founding members of the Behavior Analysis Unit and has been with the unit he helped found for decades prior to the start of the series. Gideon has seen more acts of violence than any member of the current team, and he does his best to turn the negative experiences into teaching moments to make him a better profiler. Gideon is arguably the best profiler in the series, but there is only so much death any man can take.
After losing his girlfriend at the hands of a particularly brutal serial killer, Gideon is in a dark place. His mental stress is only amplified when an investigation is botched due to an investigative error. Gideon simply cannot take it anymore and resigns from the FBI after leaving a note for his mentee, Dr. Spencer Reid. Gideon’s exit is quiet and unassuming, but that does stay true to the psyche of his character, who repressed his emotions towards those he was closest to. It was a depressing way to see his character off as the man who had withstood so much finally snapped. Seasons later, Gideon would be murdered offscreen by a serial killer from his and SSA David Rossi’s past in Season 10, Episode 13, “Nelson’s Sparrow.” The killer himself would be arrested by the BAU team, and Gideon received justice at the hands of the team he left years prior.
1
Emily Prentiss Had a Brutal Temporary Exit From Criminal Minds
Prentiss Had a Secretive Past That Came Back to Bite Her
First Appearance
Season 2, Episode 9, “The Last Word”
Last Appearance
Season 15, Episode 10, “…And In The End”
Circumstances for Exit
Faked Her Death To Capture UNSUB Ian Doyle
SSA Emily Prentiss is one woman who has lived many lives. She’s a confident and brilliant woman with a charming personality that makes her an enjoyable addition to the team, which she would go on to lead seasons later. Prentiss has a background in spycraft and uses it to her advantage as a profiler. It’s her background as a spy that would go on to spark her initial exit from Criminal Minds.
Emily Prentiss was an agent on a secretive Interpol unit dubbed JTF-12 where she went undercover into the operations of Irish terrorist Ian Doyle. After being imprisoned, Doyle learned of Prentiss’ betrayal and began targeting former members of JTF-12 as revenge. Doyle abducts and tortures Prentiss, impaling her on a stick before fleeing arrest in Season 6, Episodes 17 & 18, “Lauren”. Hotch and JJ decide to fake Prentiss’ death and hide her while they search for Doyle. The majority of the team believes her to be dead and takes her passing hard. She is revealed to be alive at the beginning of the next season, but the ramifications of faking her death impact the team greatly, both professionally and personally. Emily’s fake death packed an emotional punch that saw one of the fan’s favorite characters die on camera. Even though Emily’s death was faked, fans experienced it for real, and it made her eventually return that much more powerful.