Criminal Minds’ Will did not die in the series, but he did have a near-death experience during the two-part season seven finale.
Criminal Minds may have ended in 2020, but the series is still a popular watch for subscribers of paid subscription video on demand (VOD) platforms that host the series.
As a result of some of these platforms having only some of the seasons, though, some details might have been missed.
One in particular, was regarding the life of JJ’s husband, William “Will” LaMontagne. During the seventh season of the series he experienced a near death hostage situation which he survived with the help of Emily Prentiss, just in the nick of time.
What was Criminal Minds?
Criminal Minds was the CBS flagship series which first premiered in 2005. The series is the brainchild of the acclaimed producer, Jeff Davis, and it ran for 15 seasons before it concluded its monumental run in 2020.
The premise of the series is, “The cases of the F.B.I. Behavioral Analysis Unit (B.A.U.), an elite group of profilers who analyze the nation’s most dangerous serial killers and individual heinous crimes in an effort to anticipate their next moves before they strike again.”
With much coming and going of fan-favourite characters, the series was fronted by Joe Mantegna who played the character of Supervisory Special Agent, David Rossi.
Does Will die in Criminal Minds?
William “Will” LaMontagne, who was played by actor Josh Stewart, was first introduced in season two of the series, in an episode titled “Jones”.
In the episode, Will is investigating a serial killer who was first investigated by his late father. It is in this episode that the beginning of the romance between Will and Agent Jennifer “J.J” Jareau begins.
By the seventh season, the two have overcome their initial relationship difficulties , they have moved in together, and have a child. Moreover, there also a proposal in season three, but J.J declined.
Therefore, since they were one of the fan-favourite couples, fans were worried about Will’s fate during the two-part season seven finale.
This is because Will almost died after being held hostage by bank robbers, Izzy Rogers, and Matthew Downs. After being used as a decoy, he is left by Downs in a train station with a gunshot wound and two bombs attached to him.
If it was not for Emily Prentiss who detonated the bomb, Will would have died and never got to propose again, this time, hopefully, with J.J agreeing.
Fun fact: Will should have died in season seven
A fun fact has been revealed about the season seven finale where Will survived the near-death experience.
While Will was saved by Emily Prentiss just in the nick of time, it was later revealed that the initial draft of the script was written with Will dying at Union Station where Matthew Downs left him.
But the draft was revised due to the dramatic departure of Emily Prentiss, played by Paget Brewster, at the end of the season.
Did Will return to Criminal Minds?
Josh Stewart, in the role of Criminal Minds’ Will, was a recurring guest appearance, hence, after season seven where he almost died and later married J.J at the end of the season, the actor continued to appear in the show sporadically thereafter.
He appeared in cameo appearances during seasons eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and in the series finale episode in season fifteen.
His last appearance was in the episode “Awakenings” after J.J was shot, and during the finale’s final sequence at Penelope’s party that Rossi threw.
Why was Criminal Minds cancelled?
For long-running series like Criminal Minds, a lot of factors go into a decision to conclude it. Firstly, there’s the fact that there was a decline in viewership during the last seasons of the series.
Furthermore, keeping a series like Criminal Minds going fifteen years later proves more expensive than beneficial to the channel, as ratings inevitably declined. Contract negotiations become expensive as actors will demand more, the longer they stay on.
Unfortunately, throughout the fifteen-year run, numerous fan-favourite characters left, and while some came back, the inconsistency began to affect how long-standing fans felt about the series.
Final thoughts
Criminal Minds’ Jennifer “J.J” Jareau is one of the series’ most beloved characters. The character, by the seventh season of the series, was a mother, wife and agent.
However, during the two part-two series finale consisting of episodes “Hit” and “Run”, J.J almost lost her then boyfriend, Will LaMontagne.
Will not only survived the near-death experience through the intervention of Agent Emily Prentiss, but his character survived being killed off with the season seven finale as Paget Brewster, who played Prentiss, was set to leave the series following the season seven finale.