Criminal Minds has had a lot of cast exits from the show, but Jennifer Love Hewitt's Kate Callahan's exit in Season 10 after she was just introduced in that season was shocking for the fans.
Kate was introduced as a replacement for Alex Blake, who resigned in the Season 9 finale. Kate joined Criminal Minds Season 10 as the newest member of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
She married her husband Chris and had a niece named Meg in her family. Kate was intelligent and compassionate, and she had experience as an undercover agent.
While she was growing on the audience as Kate in Season 10, her journey was cut short just after the season after she resigned from her job because she wanted to spend more time with her family after learning that she was pregnant in the Season 10 finale.
More on Jennifer Love Hewitt's character Kate Callahan on Criminal Minds.
Exploring the reasons behind Kate Callahan's exit from Criminal Minds
Kate worked for Andi Swann on the Domestic Trafficking Task Force as an undercover agent before entering BAU. She lost both her sister and brother-in-law in the September 11 terrorist attack, leaving an infant Meg with Kate and her husband.
In the Season 10 finale, Meg was abducted by a group of human traffickers who mistook her for a boy around their age. But seeing Kate in her line of work, Meg felt suspicious and met with the traffickers upon her friend Markayla's insistence.
While Meg was rescued by Kate's team unharmed, this was too close a call for Kate and her husband, who did not want to subject Meg to the dangers of Kate's job. On top of that, the couple also discovered that they were pregnant in the Criminal Minds Season 10 finale.
Therefore, Kate left the force after resigning from her post to spend time with her family. She never joined the force again, nor was mentioned in further episodes.
Why did Jennifer Love Hewitt leave Criminal Minds after just a season?
While Hewitt was very excited to join Criminal Minds Season 10 before the premiere, fans were disappointed to see her leave in the finale after her character was finally starting to grow on them.
Hewitt left the show because she was expecting a child with her husband and wanted to take time off. In addition, it would not have been possible for her to return for Season 11 as a mother with a newborn baby.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Erica Messer mentioned how her character was written off in the script after she mentioned her pregnancy,
"What wasn't in play was writing her out by any means...but she was taking time off to be a full-time mom. Because she's due in July [2016], when we would start shooting Season 11, timing-wise, there was no way for her to do both."
Hewitt has since appeared in Pups Alone, Fox's 911, and Betty White: A Celebration. Currently, Hewitt plays Maddie Buckley on Fox's 911.
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