Criminal Minds Boss Apologizes In Advance for Season Finale Stress

It's been a non-stop stress train on Criminal Minds this season. It kicked off with Prentiss (Paget Brewster) being kidnapped by Mr. Scratch (Bodhi Elfman) and the reveal that Agent Stephen Walker (Damon Gupton) didn't survive the car crash the concluded the Season 12 finale. Unfortunately, the Season 13 finale won't end happily ever after either.

"Expect the unexpected because I don't know if we've ever quite ended a season the way we're ending this one," executive producer Erica Messer warns. "I'm sorry in advance for any stress I cause anyone."

Ending the season on a cliffhanger is a bit of a risk as Criminal Minds is still waiting for their official renewal announcement, but Messer wants to wrap up the season in an exciting new fashion. "Last season, we did a massive car accident, and you knew that there were certain characters that were gonna be okay because they weren't in the car accident," she explains. "This year, we wanted to shake that up a little bit, which is why we chose the cliffhanger we did."

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Multiple characters will be in danger at the end of the finale, which is the show's 299th episode. If the show lands the renewal, the finale sets up an extremely exciting season opener for the landmark 300th episode.

"If we have team members in jeopardy, that's always an incredible drive for the team internally and for us as writers to really jump in and do everything in our power to restore our team as they should be," Messer says.

Oh boy. We suggest having stress balls and comfort food ready for Wednesday night.

Criminal Minds' Season 13 finale event begins Wednesday, April 18 at 9/8c on CBS.

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