Keck's Exclusives: A Wedding, Not a Funeral, on Criminal Minds
Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds
Spoiler alert! Rather than stage a funeral to explain the upcoming exit of Paget Brewster's Emily — just a year after she faked her death — CBS' Criminal Minds has decided to end the season with a wedding. But who's getting hitched at the end of the tense two-hour finale is a secret. "We decided not to kill her off," explains executive producer Erica Messer. "We had already buried her, so that would have seemed repetitive." Instead, Emily will "leave the BAU to pursue other things, which mimics what Paget's pursuing in real life. If Paget ever wants to come back, this exit allows the door to be open."
Emily's last scene with her friends will be in one of their backyards, celebrating the intimate wedding of a longtime couple. "We wanted to balance out the darkness of the two hours and the bittersweetness of Paget leaving with the flip side of a really good thing," says Erica, who confirms that the couple exchanging vows will either be J.J. and Will or Garcia and Kevin. "They'll all have a really rough Saturday with a hostage situation and then a really lovely Sunday. To end a season on a happy note instead of blowing something up is very unusual for us."
Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!