"Criminal Minds" is entering its new season on CBS. While the show was able to make it through one season without a key character, many fans are hoping to see the return of a cast member - Thomas Gibson. Will Season 13 mark the end of the #NoHotchNoWatch plea among viewers?
#NoHotchNoWatch ends on Season 13?
"Criminal Minds" Season 13 is premiering this fall on CBS and many fans are setting high expectations for the upcoming season. One of the things that viewers are looking forward to is the return of Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner. There have been quite a lot of changes in the series since the sudden exit of Thomas Gibson from the show due to an alleged altercation with one of the drama's writers.
Many fans admitted that they had a hard time watching the series continue without its lead character even though the show introduced a major arc focusing on Matthew Gray Gubler's character, Spencer Reid.
Since Gibson's departure on "Criminal Minds" Season 12, several fans began pleading for the actor's return to the show through a popular hashtag on social media called #NoHotchNoWatch. This is one of the fans' attempts of bringing Gibson back to the show alongside other means such as online petitions and letters sent to CBS. Now that the writer, who was involved in the alleged altercation with Gibson, is resigning from the show, the network can finally take heed of the fans' request and bring Hotch back to the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
Can Hotch's return boost the show's ratings?
As Carter Matt notes in its report, "Criminal Minds" Season 12 experienced a significant drop in its ratings and its average is the lowest out of all the seasons of the CBS drama. The show only averaged a 1.39 rating in the 18-49 demo, which is 22.45 percent lower than the previous season.
Many fans insist that the drop in the drama's ratings is due to the exit of Gibson from the show.
Several fans also expressed their disappointment with the storylines on "Criminal Minds" Season 12 despite the fact that the CBS series introduced a major arc on another fan-favorite character, Spencer Reid. Many fans thought that the show was trying so hard to make up for Gibson's absence from the series, but ultimately failed to do so.
This raised speculations that Season 13 may mark the end of the series.
With this, the aforementioned publication notes that the show can still survive and live on for another season since the series continues as one of the network's most successful shows in its genre. However, the fact that Gibson plays a key role in the show remains and his return on Season 13 may help put the show back to the top.
Do you think "Criminal Minds" should bring Thomas Gibson's Hotch back?
