‘Criminal Minds’ had a long and exciting run for fifteen seasons and it’s time we speak of the unspoken. Why was Jason Gideon killed off from ‘Criminal Minds’? We know it was more than just for the sake of the story. Keep reading to find out!
It’s tough to get your heads around it when a character that has been long associated with a show is suddenly removed without an explanation. ‘Criminal Minds’ took a spot in one of the longest-running TV shows and somewhere in between it lost one of its longest staying characters – Jason Gideon. Jason Gideon was killed off on the show in season 10 and people still wonder why. Here’s why Mandy Patinkin chose to walk off ‘Criminal Minds’!
Highlights —
- Jason Gideon wasn’t always a fan-favourite
- Mandy Patinkin quit on Jason Gideon
- ‘Criminal Minds’ boss on why Gideon’s death was necessary
Jason Gideon wasn’t always a fan-favourite
If you have followed ‘Criminal Minds‘ closely, it should be obvious to you that Jason Gideon was not the most likable character on the show. Jason Gideon was a former Supervisory Special Agent of the Behavioural Analysis Unit. Initially, the first two seasons of ‘Criminal Minds’ had Jason Gideon written all over it. However, with time he took the backseat, although equally irreplaceable for the show’s plot. Along the way, Jason Gideon made a decision to retire from the Behavioural Analysis Unit after the murder of his girlfriend shook him.
Although for ten seasons, Jason Gideon played an incredibly integral role in ‘Criminal Minds’, there have been mixed feelings about the character among the viewers. While there have been fans who would have rooted for Gideon no matter what, there have also been the ones who never really got what and why the hype was around Gideon. It’s true that Gideon’s tough rugged looks have done enough to hold some ground, but that was never enough for some fans of the show. That was, perhaps, because Gideon occupied a huge central portion of the show but also acted as the counter-piece at times. What we mean is that Gideon’s false grandiosity and arrogance tended to be ridiculous at certain points, not to mention how frustrating some of his actions and choices were! A fan bashed Gideon’s character on “Reddit” saying, “Gideon was massively arrogant and the most frustrating character. The first 2 seasons were essentially ‘the Gideon show’ and everything got so much better when he got the boot”. A little harsh, we agree!
Mandy Patinkin quit on Jason Gideon
Notwithstanding the popular and unpopular opinions of the fans, why did the actor playing Jason Gideon on ‘Criminal Minds’ decide to drive into the sunset? Mandy Patinkin, the one who played Jason Gideon on the show, admitted to facing creative differences with the team and cited that as the reason for his exit from the show. However, even though his departure from ‘Criminal Minds’ was a shockingly abrupt one, he expressed his desire to continue working for Disney and CBS in fresh ventures in the future.
Elaborating further on his decision to quit ‘Criminal Minds’, Mandy Patinkin also explained how playing Jason Gideon was crushing his soul and even went on to label the experience as “very destructive”. Apparently, the subject matter of the series grew increasingly uncomfortable for him and that was taking a toll on his personality as well. Patinkin even made it a point to pledge against doing television work of this sort again. He said,
“The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place. I thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality. After that, I didn’t think I would get to work in television again”.
‘Criminal Minds’ boss on why Gideon’s death was necessary
The executive producer of ‘Criminal Minds’, Erica Messer, has been very candid about the decision of killing Jason Gideon. Although they had never planned for Gideon’s death creatively back when Patinkin had left the show abruptly in season 3, it seemed like a fitting and honourable end to the character. For what it’s worth, Gideon’s death was never intended to be a tool of punishment for Patinkin or for the character.
Messer explained in an interview to “TV Guide“, “You’re seeing his whole life as an FBI agent and the personal side of having a child he wanted to have but maybe wasn’t as good of a dad as he wanted to be. It felt like a really nice way of honouring Gideon. We don’t kill off our heroes very often. We did Strauss obviously. But it felt like after 10 years, these are things that do happen to agents who have worked together for a long time”.
What did you think about the death of Jason Gideon on ‘Criminal Minds’? Let us know in the comments below!
