'Criminal Minds' season 12 spoilers: showrunner Erica Messer opens up about casting challenges, Hotch's farewell episode
The 12th season of "Criminal Minds" will be in another short hiatus, but showrunner Erica Messer is opening up about the cast and plot changes that happened in the show for the current season.
In an interview with TVLine, Messer talked about how the production overcame all the challenges of writing in the character of Adam Rodriguez named Luke Alvez, who they intended to fill up the vacant spot left by Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan.
According to the showrunner, Rodriguez managed to impress the production and the audience immediately.
"Obviously there is no replacing Shemar [Moore]," she stated, "but Adam had no intention of doing that. He brought his own thing to the character. He fits in on-screen and off-screen."
But after they managed to deal with Rodriguez's introduction, they have to deal with another major hurdle for season 12 when they encountered a problem with fan-favorite cast member Thomas Gibson.
The actor got involved in a physical altercation with writer-producer Virgil Williams, which eventually made the network decide to fire him from the show. Messer admitted that it was hard for her to write Gibson's final episode as Aaron Hotchner especially since the actor was not featured in the episode.
"Given what was in front of us — I wrote that and Matthew [Gray Gubler, who plays Reid] directed it — it was done with such love and care for the history of the show and that character and the hero that he is and will continue to be, in the eyes of the team and most importantly the eyes of his son," Messer said.
Other new casting additions for the current season of the long-running police procedural series include Aisha Tyler, whose character Dr. Tara Lewis was promoted as a series regular member. "Prime Suspect" star Damon Gupton also landed a regular role as Agent Stephen Walker.
The upcoming episodes of "Criminal Minds" season 12 will be aired by CBS on Wednesday, Feb. 1, with the episode titled "Surface Tension." However, the plot for the upcoming episode remains to be under wraps.