If you are a Criminal Minds fan you are probably very familiar with "Derek Morgan", the iconic character who was not afraid of chasing down the most dangerous serial killers in the country, portrayed by Shemar Moore for 11 years. We were truly obsessed with him! And that's why we were also really surprised when he left the show in 2016, but after a couple of years of speculation, we finally know why he said goodbye to the series!
"Derek Morgan" had to deal with very difficult situations shortly before we saw him for the last time in Criminal Minds; he was kidnapped and at some point found out that he was going to be a father, which is the reason why we actually stopped seeing him, as he expressed his desire to spend more time with his family.
But the truth is that Shemar Moore decided to exit the show. Why exactly? According to Cheatsheet, apparently, he wanted to explore other opportunities and he wanted to search for some personal growth. "I wanted to see what the next chapter of my acting career is and also have a little balance so I could pursue other avenues of my life," the Criminal Minds star said.
Did "Derek Morgan" return for the series finale?
The good news is that the actor was open to the idea of returning to the show! And that's exactly what he did during seasons 12 and 13, which opened up the possibility of seeing him again in the series finale.
However he is currently working on S.W.A.T. where he has played the role of "Sergeant Daniel 'Hondo' Harrelson" since 2017, so he, unfortunately, couldn't take some time to be part of the Criminal Minds goodbye!
