Jennifer Love Hewitt joined Criminal Minds Season 10 as new agent Kate Callahan, but why did she only last one season on the hit CBS crime drama?
Jennifer Love Hewitt made headlines when she joined Criminal Minds for the CBS drama’s 10th season. The actress had been a familiar face on television since her breakout role as Sarah on Fox’s Party of Five in the 1990s and the supernatural series Ghost Whisperer. Now, she was becoming part of one of the most popular TV series. Unfortunately, however, the arrangement didn’t last very long.
Criminal Minds fans were surprised when Hewitt’s character Kate Callahan got written out in the Season 10 finale. Hewitt initially appeared to be excited about the role and working with CBS again when speaking to Entertainment Weekly before the Season 10 premiere, beaming how different Kate was from her past roles on Ghost Whisperer and The Client List. Was her departure just one more example of the show’s well-established cast turnover? Or was Hewitt deciding the show wasn’t what she was looking for? Here are the reasons Jennifer Love Hewitt only lasted one season before disappearing from the Criminal Minds universe and what happened to her character.
Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on May 3, 2024: Ahead of the seventeenth season of Criminal Minds, this article has been updated to include more information and to conform to CBR’s current guidelines.
Who Was Kate Callahan on Criminal Minds?
Special Agent Kate Callahan was introduced to the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) in the Criminal Minds Season 10 premiere. She replaced Alex Blake after her resignation in the Season 9 finale, but Kate would resign just a season later. The Season 10 finale, “The Hunt,” centered on her character and involved her niece Meg being abducted by human traffickers. Although the BAU recovered Meg unharmed, Kate and her husband Chris also discovered that Kate was pregnant. As a result, Kate chose to leave her position to spend time with her family. From the time of her departure, Kate Callahan has never returned to Criminal Minds.
Due to her relatively short run on the show, little was explored about Kate’s backstory. Like most characters on Criminal Minds, Kate did have a tragic and traumatic past. She had previously worked for the recurring character of Andi Swann on the Domestic Trafficking Task Force before transferring to the BAU and had significant undercover experience. Both her sister and brother-in-law were killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks when Meg was just an infant, leaving Kate and Chris to raise her as their adopted daughter. With Season 10 considered one of the show’s weakest, Kate didn’t make a huge impact other than the shock of her leaving so soon.
Why Did Jennifer Love Hewitt Exit Criminal Minds?
Fans were thrown by Hewitt leaving Criminal Minds just as they had gotten used to her character, and they weren’t the only ones. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly after the actress’ last episode aired, showrunner Erica Messer mentioned that the Season 10 finale had already been planned when the decision was made. The writers had to change the episode to accommodate Hewitt’s departure. “What wasn’t in play was writing her out by any means,” Messer said. But Kate’s ending reflected why the character had to leave.
Hewitt departed the series after discovering she was expecting her second child. Messer further explained that since the actress 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 never returned before Criminal Minds temporarily ended with Season 15, nor did she make any indication of returning in the recent revival of the hit series.
Who Replaced Kate Callahan on Criminal Minds’ 11th Season?
Criminal Minds had to compensate for Hewitt’s absence in the following season. Thus, she was replaced by Aisha Tyler, who also happened to be Hewitt’s co-star during Season 1 of Ghost Whisperer. Tyler portrayedDr. Tara Lewis, a psychologist who applies forensic psychology to the criminal justice system. She acted as Callahan and JJ’s temporary replacement while on maternity leave.
The decision ended up working out in Criminal Minds’ favor. Tyler reprised her role in the revival Criminal Minds: Evolution, beating the rotating door of replacements on the procedural. Although she didn’t fit the same way Kate did in the series, that wasn’t necessarily bad. They were completely different characters who brought something fresh to the table, and fans had strong opinions about both of them. Ultimately, Lewis became more integral to the series and the unit’s success.
Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Career Post-Criminal Minds
Being an accomplished actor before Criminal Minds, it’s no surprise Hewitt easily found work after leaving the series. Three years after Criminal Minds, Hewitt began a starring role in the second season of the Fox-turned-ABC procedural 9-1-1, which follows the lives of Los Angeles first responders. Hewitt replaced Connie Britton as the primary dispatcher on which the series focuses since Britton’s character left for a self-discovery trip in Europe at the end of the first season. Hewitt portrayed Maddie Buckley (introduced as Maddie Kendall), firefighter Buck’s older sister who escaped to Los Angeles to hide from her abusive husband.
Because of her commitment to 9-1-1, Hewitt wasn’t one of the cast members announced when Paramount+ ordered the revival of Criminal Minds: Evolution. Hewitt might be in 9-1-1 for the long run if it succeeds on ABC since she only took a brief hiatus in Season 5 when she had her third child. Since her debut, Maddie Buckley has had a strong story in recent seasons of 9-1-1, leading up to her marriage to Kenneth Choi’s Howard “Chimney” Han in the show’s seventh season. With such success on a different series, viewers seem to have officially seen the last of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Kate Callahan on Criminal Minds.
