As season 12 of Criminal Minds reaches its sixteenth episode, “Elliot’s Pond”,  a major bombshell was dropped on the viewers of the beloved show. It has been released that Thomas Gibson was dealing with a two week suspension after an altercation where he allegedly kicked Virgil Williams, a writer and producer, on the set of Criminal Minds. 

Thomas Gibson says that “there were creative differences on the set and a disagreement. I regret that it occurred.”  

It was originally written in that Gibson would be missing from the beginning of the season anyway because he would be investigating a personal assignment, but there has been a change in the writer’s plans. Instead, the revised script states that Agent Hotchner and his son Jack would be entering the Witness Protection Program because Jack was being stalked by a serial killer, Mr. Scratch, seeking vengeance against the FBI agent.

Why the sudden and significant change from personal assignment to Witness Protection Program? Well that’s because Gibson’s suspension has now transgressed into a full fledged unemployment. It was released to the media on November 17, 2016, that Gibson had been fired due to the squabble that turned aggressive. Following his disbarment from Criminal Minds, Gibson took to “Twitter” to issue his fans a thank you, stating, “I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last twelve years.”

Gibson told TVLine,  “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.”

Most fans are pleased with the way Hotch’s write-off was handled, stating that it “showed great respect to his character” and that “there was no better way to send him off”.