Exciting Casting News For Next Season

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

EXCLUSIVE: JJ fans can rejoice. After a week of negotiations, A.J. Cook just closed a two-year deal to return to CBS' drama Criminal Minds as a regular. She will guest star in the series' sixth season finale on May 18 before re-joining the show full-time in the fall.

Cook departed Criminal Minds after the end of last season when her option was not picked up, stirring outcry among fans of the show. She appeared in the first two episodes of this season to wrap the storyline of her character JJ, who was transferred from the BAU to a job at the Pentagon. Cook then returned for the last episode of the season for co-star Paget Brewster, which aired last month. If Brewster's NBC comedy pilot My Life As An Experiment does not go to series, she will also likely return to Criminal Minds in the fall since series' producer ABC Studios has an option on her. Cook's return to Criminal Minds does not bode well for newly minted regular Rachel Nichols, who was brought in to fill the void left by Cook's departure. Meanwhile, ABC Studios is yet to close new deals with original cast members Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore for next season, with negotiations continuing.

Cook was offered to return to Criminal Minds late last week after the series' producers recently came up with ideas for JJ for next season. Despite her exit from the show, Cook and her character continued to be extremely popular among Criminal Minds fans. Heading into Season 7, Criminal Minds will be run solely by executive producer Erica Masser following the recent departures of executive producers Ed Bernero and Simon Mirren, who have served as co-showrunners with her this season.

Source

ETA: AJ Cook tweeted and confirmed it!

Comments

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

Mostly replying to say YAY ELLE ICON. Girl does not get enough love in this fandom!

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I like all of the female characters, which I realize makes me as rare and magical as a unicorn, but Elle is my girl <3.

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

I like all of them too! We can be rare, magical unicorns together.

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

I love them all, oh man. Even the recurring characters like Haley and (especially) Jordan. Prentiss is my favorite, but I seriously adore them all.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I really thought Haley was an interesting character and am still mad about the fridging. *shakes fist*

The thing I like about the female characters on CM is they're never all one thing. Prentiss isn't defined by her love of the team connection, any more than Elle is defined by her anger or Haley is defined by her family. They've all got so much more beneath the surface.

(So off-topic now, lol.)

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

I am, too! I always liked her, and honestly I always kind of took her side. She didn't sign up for an absent husband or for essentially being a single mother 90% of the time. She married a lawyer who would always be home for dinner, and wouldn't be getting shot at or stabbed or leaving her for extended periods of time. She had every right to walk away, imo.

They really do. Which was also why Strauss was one of the highlights of this past week's episode (one of two, the other being Seaver's badassery). They finally characterized her as something other than the Stone Cold Female Boss trope.

(Pfffft off-topic away; we're still talking about female characters on the show who got shafted.)

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

ITA.

I like Hotch, hell, everyone likes Hotch, but every time Haley was trying to address what was upsetting her about their relationship (and I further note she rarely (ever?) complained about him not spending time with *her*, but was concerned about him seeing Jack. Which is pretty understandable imo) he blew her off, because he was busy doing Manly Things at his Manly Job, and had no time for her.

It must have been incredibly frustrating for her to keep trying to tell him she was unhappy and have her concerns ignored. I actually thought she was very reasonable about the breakup. He walked away long before she did.

They never seen to quite know what to do with Strauss, she seems to sometimes be a plot point first and a character second, so I did think this week was interesting. I like the (tiny) little glimpses we've had into her life in the past.

I liked how they were building Jordan as a character, too, I thought the lying thing was fascinating.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

I would like to marry this thread now, please. ♥

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

The Strauss development was awesome, but it's not the first time they've given her a little wiggle room in her Stone Cold Female Boss mold. I actually think it started at the beginning of "100," because her interrogation of the team members smacked of playing bad cop to get the testimony she needed to do the right thing. That she had no transitional period of reaction and adjustment when she finally deals with Hotch, but just goes instantly to "cleared," says to me that she was never planning to do anything else.

Um. Pardon the TL;DR; I'm just way too fond of Strauss.

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely agree there. But the next few times they showed her, they had completely undone that development, so it was nice to see them go down that road again this past week.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of Prentiss love too. I have lots of love to go around :).

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. Elle was good, JJ was okay, but Prentiss is just awesome.

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

I like all of the female characters

OMG, me too! There should be a support group for people like us!

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

We really need one!

OT: Are your icons shareable (I would upload myself and credit you, obviously)? No big deal if not. I liked your Elle one so much I went to look at all your others (because I'm a creeper like that), I really like your eye for the detail: "At the Scene" and "Agent Badass" are amazing! My absolute favorite is "Search Grid".

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

Okay, you just made my day! THANK YOU. :D :D :D *glees* And I do that all the time with other people and their icons! How else are you supposed to find the good crack?!

Absolutely they're all shareable. I've just started littled_icons, an endeavour I find slightly ridiculous because, well, I just do. But it lets me tag stuff! So feel free to look around there.

You've so so so made my day!

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!

There were a ton I liked, I will have to do an icon reshuffle I think.