There will be some rather drastic changes for the 11th season of “Criminal Minds”, and the show is moving on with its development. It’s clear that its producers have some solid plans for its next installments and they’re sticking to them, and at some points fans were not entirely too pleased with the way things were going, but for now it looks like season 11 is actually going to be quite entertaining and well done.
For one thing, Kate Callahan and Jennifer Jareau are no longer on the show, and the characters have apparently been written off for the time being. On the other hand, we’re going to see Aisha Tyler joining as Dr. Tara Lewis, and she will be taking the place of Kate on the FBI’s Behavioral Analyst Unit, after Kate decided to take a break from her work.
Kate did have a pretty rough time during the last season, and her character has been given a much needed rest – but now the writers have to fill that gap in the story with other characters, and they’re exploring their options for making the cast more diverse and interesting.
So far, we don’t know that much about Dr. Lewis, other than an official description of her character’s basic traits – she’s a psychologist who’s quite adept at forensic psychology, and she knows how to apply it towards the criminal justice system. Aisha Tyler’s character knows very well how to study the minds of the most brutal criminals up and down, in and out, and she has a knack for getting inside their heads and figuring out what makes them think.
The actresses behind both characters are taking a break from the show as they’re both giving birth soon, but it’s not clear when they will be coming back. It’s not even clear if that’s going to happen while the show is still running – but we guess at this point it depends entirely on the actresses themselves.
Because, for what it’s worth, the show’s producer Erica Messer has expressed her desire to work with them in the future if they wanted to, and she stated that the show’s doors will remain open for the two actresses later on.
So, hopefully, we will see their characters coming back at some point, but knowing how difficult motherhood can be on some people, we wouldn’t bet on it – and in any case, it’s going to be a while before we see them returning.
In addition, even though Aisha Tyler’s character will be filling the gap left by the absence of Kate, Messer wanted to make it clear that the characters weren’t actually being replaced and the show is still going to be written in a way that allows for their eventual return. However, for the time being, fans are going to get a more fresh look at the show, with new characters being introduced to spice things up and give us something more interesting to look at in terms of character and relationship developments.
It’s also possible that the changes we’re seeing could shape the show’s future, as according to Messer, it’s completely normal for people to move on with their lives after a long period like 10 years, and professionals end up being in different departments. So seeing a vastly different situation sometime down the road wouldn’t be out of the question. It remains to be seen exactly how different the new season is going to be, but it sounds like it could be a very new experience.
Wasn’t fond of Kate. Wish Alex or Emily would return. J.J. leaving (again) is going to be a hard thing to accept. She gave the show such a sexy jolt of energy her second go round. I hope she returns soon – the team always feels like something’s missing without her.