"Supply & Demand" -- Rossi (Joe Mantegna, right) gets a surprise when Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook) returns to the fold, on the sixth season finale of CRIMINAL MINDS on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Eric McCandless/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Right Reserved.
The season finale of Criminal Minds marks the return of A.J. Cook as Jennifer “JJ” Jareau. But, it won’t be the only surprise in the storyline according to Joe Mantegna, who stars as Agent David Rossi on the show.
Mantegna says the events that play out on the screen are similar to the transitions going on within the production.
“For once the fictional aspects of doing a television show start to mirror the aspects of how a television show is made, Mantegna explains. “I think the writers were wise to incorporate the two stories in a way. In other words, what’s happening thematically with the show is similar to what happens when a show has been on for six seasons ‘cause you know the normal contract length for an actor in a series is six seasons anyway.”
It sounds like there is a question of who will continue on Criminal Minds and who might very well leave, which the actor says gives the production the opportunity to explore new possibilities.
“This is a time of OK, what are we going to do? Where is this going to go? Do we go onward and upward? Are some changes going to be made? Does it end?” he expresses. “There are options and that is just the mechanics of doing a television show that has run that long. I think what they’ve done is they’ve incorporated that into the storyline. That same scenario is happening with the BAU team that we are on the show as well as the actors we are. It’s kind of interesting.”
Considering Criminal Minds is performing better with each season – not to mention holding its own while going up against American Idol for the first half of the drama – it’s a safe bet the series won’t make too many radical moves.
That sits well with Mantegna, though he wasn’t fretting anyway over what might transpire after tonight’s finale.
“I feel optimistic, let me put it that way,” he states with conviction. “I’m confident that whatever goes down it’s all going to be for the best. It’s all going to be good and positive. At least there isn’t going to be a cliffhanger this season where there is this massive explosion and you wonder if somebody’s head is going to come flying across the screen and whose is it?”
That would be OK, too…as long as it’s the bad guy taking the hit.
The Criminal Minds finale airs 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.