Criminal Minds has already been renewed for a 13th season, but will the whole cast return? Deadline reports stars Kirsten Vangsness and A.J. Cook may be leaving the CBS TV series.
The long-running crime procedural follows a unique team of profilers for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at Quantico, Virginia. The cast includes Vangsness, Cook, Matthew Gray Gubler, Paget Brewster, Joe Mantegna, Adam Rodriguez, Damon Gupton, and Aisha Tyler
According to Deadline, both Vangsness and Cook have asked for equal pay with their male co-stars, and so far contract negotiations have reached a dead end. In 2013, the duo successfully negotiated a raise after being paid “less than half of what their male counterparts including Gubler and Shemar Moore were making.”
However, now it’s unclear if the result will be the same. Both Vangsness and Cook have reportedly said they will leave Criminal Minds if their request for equal pay is denied. Neither ABC Studios nor CBS have made a public comment on the negotiations.
What do you think? Do you watch Criminal Minds? Would you watch without Vangsness and Cook?
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94 Comments on "Criminal Minds: Season 13; Kirsten Vangsness & A.J. Cook May Not Return"
If Kirsten & AJ were to leave then that would be it for me……I have stuck around to support the show but TOO MANY of our regulars have left & this would be the straw………
Garcia is the glue that holds that show together since we’ve lost so many other of the great ones. To Me she has always been a main character. Her beauty brains and quirkiness really add to the show.
I’m a BIG CBS programs’ fan. But it is unconscionable for the network to monitarily discriminate against its women actors. If it does, I’m GONE!!!!
Amen Sharon!!!
If JJ and PG go I am going have to go as well, we girls gotta look out for each other and back one another’s play
If the girls go, I go… Love the show, but if they won’t finance equal pay for our ladies, I fear CBS will loose a very large majority of their viewing public!
Think Carefully!!
Hotch and Morgan left if jj and garcia leave me and a bunch of others won’t watch
The show will not be the same without Shemar More and Thomas Cook on it, Thinking about not watching it now, but if the ladies leave as well, I think that will be it for me, when toy are watching a show, you come to love the characters playing it, it is nor the same show without them, and firing Hotch is a mistake for the series, no matter what he did. With four of the original cast fine it is not the same show to me.
I like the show a lot and I’m not sure I will watch it once they are gone, but the most important thing here is why should they/women have to fight for equal pay with equal work?
I would not watch the show anymore if Kirsten Vangsness and A.J. Cook did not return. They should get paid the same as the men do they put just as much hard work into the show!
I would stop watching Criminal Minds, if Kirsten and AJ doesn’t come back!!
I would stop watching if Kirsten and A.J doesn’t come back!!!!
To this day my least favorite season is Season 6 the year they wrote JJ out and started that long drawn out storyline of Ian Doyle. I never could warm up to the character of Seaver I always felt like they brought Her in to replace JJ.even had Emily train her and then Paget was gone too. So I hope They get their pay, not only because They deserve it but the show wouldn’t be the same without either of them. If They do leave I wish nothing but the best for them.
Those 2 ladies are part of the main cast and deserve to be paid as such. I don’t know if I would watch or not it would be a big change and I am sure the show would survive.
I’m not sure I would watch if they left. They better just give them what they want & deserve or I’m afraid you will losing a lot of viewers.
Shame on cbs for being sexist, women work just as hard as men. It’s not right that the men get paid more, y because they’re men, how horrible. I love both ladies, but if they go I stop watching. Penelope (Kristen) is 1 of the main reason I didn’t stop watching when they fired Thomas. CBS if your smart you’ll work it out with the ladies