From day one, Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) was the charm and muscle at the heart of Criminal Minds. He made it through 11 seasons — barely — that included wrestling with bad guys and childhood demons, not to mention being framed, kidnapped, and tortured.
Finally, enough was enough for both the character and the actor who played him. Moore officially departed from the long-running crime drama on March 23, 2016 in an episode that saw his characters fiancée Savannah (Rochelle Aytes) survive a gunshot wound and give birth to their child. (And that was just two episodes after Morgans own near death experience.) Suffice to say that having a baby changed Morgans perspective on his career, and he decided to step away from the action-packed life and his colleagues in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
Since then, Moore has returned to both CBS and the role of crime-fighting action hero with a troubled past, playing Daniel Harrelson (a.k.a. Hondo) on S.W.A.T. But despite his talent for playing tough guys who wont say no to a fight, in real life, Moores reasons for bidding farewell to his most famous role are surprisingly similar to Morgans reasons for leaving the BAU. Heres the real reason Shemar Moore left Criminal Minds.
Why did Shemar Moore really leave?
Shemar had similar reasons as Morgan for wanting to exit the show, and none of them were hostile. He told TVGuide that he wanted to explore other opportunities and “see what I’m capable of.” But Shemar was also searching for some personal growth, as well.
“I wanted to see what the next chapter of my acting career is and also have a little balance so I could pursue other avenues of my life,’ he said. “I want to get married, I want to have kids, I want to travel.”
Abducted at the close of last week’s episode, Derek was held captive in an extremely remote cabin by a torturer-for-hire named Edgar Solomon (played by Charles Mesure) and his team of goons. As Edgar progressively tortured Derek (first with blunt force, then by burning a trail of white phosphorous smudged down his Matt-needs-to-eat-fewer-carbs torso), the BAU agent first entertained a fantasy about an idyllic home life with Savannah and their two rugrats. But as the pain got worse, the fantasy eroded, ultimately leave him in the company of his late father, Hank.
Derek did his best to fend off the cleanup creep with a knife, but fell short. Luckily, Reid and the others showed up in time to gun down the would-be killer and save Derek.
Or maybe… “save” him? Derek starts to flatline in the ambulance, and things begin looking grim, but Hank urges his boy to fight on and be the father he needs to and will be. And three days later, Derek comes to in the hospital, where he pours his heart out to mom-to-be Savannah and asks her to marry him — and she easily says yes.
From there — and as Hank helped Derek realize that Savannah, when they last spoke, was readying to tell him she is pregnant — it was a race against time to see who would find Derek first, his BAU buds or the “cleanup” crew member that had been summoned. Bad news: it was the latter.
Hank served as a guide for Derek — there to either make dying easier, or help his son hang on, by nudging him to work the case as he usually would, using himself as the victim. Derek flashed back to age 10, the day his policeman pop was fatally gunned down when trying to thwart a purse snatching, then briefly to age 15, when he was abused by a pedophile.
What Happened to Morgan on “Criminal Minds?”
Thankfully, the Criminal Minds writers took it easy on our hearts. While Morgan did have an emotional last season—he was kidnapped, nearly killed, found out his girlfriend and future wife was pregnant, etc.—Morgan didn’t die at the end of it.
Instead, his character chose to exit the B.A.U. to spend time with his family, particularly his newborn son. Many tears were cried during his final moments, but the characters all supported Morgan’s decision to leave, including his BFF Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and his “baby girl,”, Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness).
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