Criminal Minds Exit Wasn't Thomas Gibson's First Career Mistake; This Role Was
Criminal Minds was CBS's cash cow for over a decade, and is now revived by Paramount as Criminal Minds: Evolution.
This unusual police procedural, telling the story of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, where profilers collect data and employ scientific methods to track down the most elusive of criminals, got so successful in large part because of its great cast, and in turn it boosted careers of most actors who played main roles on it.
So, it was a big mistake for Thomas Gibson to get into a behind-the-scenes altercation which resulted in termination of his contract and him leaving the show during Season 12, after playing Special Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner from its beginning (and even directing some episodes).
Certainly, Gibson did not get a comparable role since then. But that was not the first mistake in his career as an actor. Starring in the straight-to-TV horror movie Evil Never Dies (2003) clearly was one too.
Somewhat mitigated by the fact that Evil Never Dies is just so thoroughly forgotten. In fact, even the obscure mix of a gangster movie and a horror of the same name from 2014 is better known.
In 2003's Evil Never Dies, Gibson plays Detective Mark Ryan whose wife is murdered by a notorious serial killer. Though the killer is caught and executed, Ryan cannot get over her death, so he abandons his old job and becomes a beat cop on a local college campus.
But he soon meets Eve (Katherine Heigl), assistant to a mad scientist working to resurrect the dead. Surprise – the mad scientist's first test subject is none other than the body of the man who killed Ryan's wife!
As you can guess from this description, the movie's plot is built on improbable coincidences from the start. Then plot holes multiply, until nothing makes any sense anymore.
So, starring at Evil Never Dies was certainly not a high point of Thomas Gibson career, and considering that by 2003 he already was an experienced actor, it might well remain an embarrassment for him.
But on the other hand, a movie that almost no one remembers, that does not even have either a Wikipedia page or enough critical reviews to form a rating on Rotten Tomatoes is at least not as likely to hurt your credentials as an infamous flop!