Criminal Minds fans have been waiting for Aaron Hotchner to appear in the Evolution spinoff series — and Thomas Gibson seemingly just gave them more hope of a return.
Gibson, 61, recently took to social media to share an Instagram photo of him on strike with SAG-AFTRA and WGA members. “Walking the line with scribe extraordinaire Andrew Wilder #sagaftrastrong #wgastrong #unionstrong 
,” he captioned the photo of him and Wilder, 42, who was previously a producer and writer on Criminal Minds.
Fans quickly took to the comments section to voice their theories about Gibson returning in Criminal Minds: Evolution. “Andrew was an excellent writer on CM. Thomas, he treated Hotch well on the show. I miss both of you. The 2 of you need to do something together again,” a follower wrote.
Meanwhile, another social media user used Twitter to share a petition requesting Gibson make an appearance in the spinoff series. The page, which was created in June 2021, has already received 832 signatures and is aiming to reach a goal of 1,000.
Gibson became a fan favorite during his decade-long run as Aaron Hotchner in the original Criminal Minds show. He was initially let go for two weeks from the CBS series in 2016 after he reportedly kicked show writer Virgil Williams in the leg while they were arguing about an episode that Gibson was directing.
“There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement,” Gibson said in a statement at the time. “I regret that it occurred. We all want to work together as a team to make the best show possible. We always have and always will.”
That same month, Gibson addressed the news of his firing, telling Us Weekly, “I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last 12 years. I had hoped to see it through to the end, but that won’t be possible now. I would just like to say thank you to the writers, producers, actors, our amazing crew and, most importantly, the best fans that a show could ever hope to have.”
Gibson later broke down the interaction between him and Williams.
“We were shooting a scene late one night when I went to Virgil and told him there was a line that I thought contradicted an earlier line. He said, ‘Sorry, it’s necessary, and I absolutely have to have it,’” the actor told People in 2016. “He came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg. If I hadn’t moved, he would have run into me. We had some choice words, for which I apologized the next day, and that was it. It was over. We shot the scene, I went home — and I never got to go back.”
Gibson’s last episode on the police procedural where he played the unit chief aired later that year. He has since done voiceover work for the 2017 film Axis before scoring a lead role in the short-lived series Shadow Wolves.
Meanwhile, Criminal Minds continued to air new episodes until 2020 when it was revived by Paramount+ two years later. Criminal Minds: Evolution currently stars series OGs Joe Mantegna, A. J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster.
