‘Criminal Minds’: Paget Brewster Once Shared What It Took to Be Re-Hired
Criminal Minds star Paget Brewster was looking like a mainstay on the series before her departure in season seven. The actor once set the record straight on the real reason she left the series.
How Paget Brewster came back to ‘Criminal’ Minds’
At the time, many were surprised by Brewster’s exit from Criminal Minds. She was brought on board the team during the show’s second season as agent Emily Prentiss. Brewster seemed poised to become as much of a constant presence on the show as Shemar Moore and some of the other co-stars. But she, along with her Criminal Minds co-star A.J. Cook, were let go from the show.
Speaking with Assignment X, Brewster confided that those behind the series simply wanted to shake up the show. They felt reducing Brewster’s role would’ve added some spontaneity, which Brewster felt was a mistake. Fortunately, she felt her and the show’s fans were partially responsible for her return.
“I think they wanted to make a cast change-up and it didn’t work,” she said. “It was the second or third time I know of, historically, that fans’ reaction actually affected a network’s [decision]. And so A.J. and I were brought back and unfortunately, Rachel [Nichols] was fired after we were fired [and then re-hired]. So there was a lot of firing that shouldn’t have happened. And it’s a shame – I think it’s a really simple case of, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and I think they recognized that.”
There was another silver lining to Brewster being written out of the show. This allowed for more captivating storytelling when her character made her comeback.
“The way that I was written out [the first time] was really exciting and interesting,” Brewster said. “And the writers were very excited about doing it. And I think they worked incredibly hard and wrote a really exciting, crazy story for me to leave on, and we had to tie it up when I came back.”
Paget Brewster felt she was fired from ‘Criminal Minds’ due to sexism
Years later, Brewster would delve a little deeper into her firing from the show, giving fans a glimpse of what truly happened behind-the-scenes. She debunked the common speculation that she and Cook were fired due to budget cuts. The How I Met Your Father star asserted that a network executive simply wanted other women to be a part of the program.
“[Someone from] CBS had just called Ed Bernaro and said, ‘I want new women.’ So we were fired, the fans were upset, there was a petition… A.J. shot an episode to sort of explain where J.J. was going, but my agents had negotiated for me to do 17 episodes and then leave. Because we were fired. So I went to the writers and said, ‘Just kill my character, give the team something to do, and I’ll leave.’ I was heartbroken. I was so happy there,” she once told AV Club.
Brewster was initially asked to come back to the series, which she was initially against after her treatment. But she developed such a bond with her Criminal Minds castmates that she at least looked forward to working with them again.
“I hated CBS. [What they did] was just scummy. But everyone at Criminal Minds I really enjoy and I really like and I really care about. So I did that last year, and then I said, ‘I love everyone here, but I realize now, having left, that my heart isn’t in it.’ And that’s what they wrote for Emily Prentiss: They wrote Emily Prentiss saying, ‘Since I’ve come back, I’ve realized that my heart isn’t in it, and I want to do other things.’ And it was true,” she said.
Paget Brewster wanted to do comedy after she thought her time with ‘Criminal Minds’ was over
Brewster planned to work on much lighter projects after her initial run with Criminal Minds. But one of the projects she booked was Law & Order SVU, which was also known for its dark storylines. She appeared in a couple of episodes as ADA Sheila Tierney. Although she was looking to do comedies, she made an exception for Dick Wolf’s long-running series.
“But you just don’t say no to SVU– who would? Those guys are awesome,” she said. “They work incredibly hard, it’s a really exciting environment, and so I was deeply flattered when they offered me the part. It’s pretty much the only [law enforcement procedural] show that I would do, but I love the show, so I would have been crazy to say no.”
