Jennifer Esposito leaving NCIS

Unlike Criminal Minds, news of cast departures on NCIS are few and far in between.

So the announcement that Jennifer Esposito won't be returning in the coming season left me feeling like..

via GIPHY

Not surprised, since they conveniently wrote and shot last season's finale in such a way that there's more than one way for her to plausibly leave Gibbs's team in the coming season. If nothing else, her character was pretty hilarious: I still haven't forgotten how she would rather run back to the car to chase someone than to do any actual running. 😁😂

Criminal Minds Annual Cast Changes

At this point in the year, news of cast changes in the Criminal Minds lineup is to be expected. 

So who's in and who's out this year? 

Well, Damon Gupton is out of the coming season, which apparently was a "network decision". I'm not complaining, because the guy's character didn't add much to the show. He won't be hard to write out if they resolve Mr Scratch quickly. 

And they decided to rescue (?) Daniel Henney from the now-cancelled, much maligned (especially in Singapore) Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders to join the mothership show. My guess is that they need a Pan Asian for the diversity quota (besides Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez, that show is also mostly consist of white people; I don't think there's ever been a regular cast member of Asian descent on that show). I'm also guessing that they're hoping the Henney fanbase will also follow. I have my guesses as to how he'll join the BAU fold, but I'm sure they'll come up with some mildly plausible way to write him in. 

Also in are AJ Cook and Kirsten Vangsness who got their salary parity with both MGG and Mantegna (🎉🎆). Those two are gonna be interesting to write out if the negotations didn't work out.