A. J. Cook : Why exactly is A.J not on Criminal Minds anymore……

Im alittle confused to why she left the show or got fired

~~Dammit, man! I'm a doctor, not a physicist!~~~

It's not entirely clear, but I read an article implying the creators thought the character wasn't important enough to keep around. So in others words the creators got bored with JJ. Probably explains why they created a new character in her place.

She got fired.

"No more sporks or spnives or knifoons! It's like a Dr. Seuss kitchen down there!"

Technically they're not the ones getting rid of Paget. If she chooses to leave, it will be under her own free will.

I agree with the whole thing in regards to Paget. They sort of forced her hand. Who wants to be in a show where they're clearly not appreciated and only brought back because of massive outrage from the fanbase. Plus, they were clearly jerking her chain with the whole "you're only here part time, oh wait you can stay for the whole seasonif you want." I don't blame her if she doesn't in fact stay. I'm not enjoying the show that much without AJ and I'm sure that will just go down when Paget leaves.

"No more sporks or spnives or knifoons! It's like a Dr. Seuss kitchen down there!"

I read that they got rid of her due to budget cut reasons.

Budgetary reasons, yes. The new girl is a hot blonde just like AJ but is an unknown much cheaper actress. Ridiculous, but that's the way things go.

That's not true at all on both the budget reasons and the actress. The budget reasons was a rumour when news broke out about dropping AJ. However it was later stated repeatedly that budget was not the reason and that she was dropped for creative reasons. Considering how much the creators wasted her on the show, I don't doubt this.

That "unknown much cheaper actress" Rachel Nichols has actually been in more starring roles and more mainstream films and series than AJ. Even check out her profile for yourselves. If anything she'll be more expensive to higher.

What Jake3988 said. If they were going to replace AJ, did they have to go with another blonde, how stupid do they think their audience is? I can't get into the new character at all, aside from the fact that she is a cheap AJ/JJ ripoff!!

Carpe DiemOne Day at a Time

I agree with your opinion and I also like A.J. and the Character JJ I know A.J. will land on her feet, not so sure about Criminal Minds, however As you said, they made a HUGE mistake getting rid of A.J.

Bill Steward

AJ just revealed on Twitter that JJ will be back next season, full time. She signed a two season contract.



"The Heart Has Reasons That Reason Does Not Understand." Jacques Benigne Bossuel

I'm not sure why they sent Paget packing and then brought her back, but A.J. left to film 2 movies, one of which ("Bringing Ashley Home" with "House"'s Jennifer Morrison) was recently shown on either Lifetime or the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN).