Mandy Patinkin’s role in Criminal Minds was certainly memorable. Although the actor wasn’t on the series for too long, he managed to leave a mark on the series, with many wondering why exactly the actor left the series. Although the series has been running for seventeen seasons, he left after the second season and was a guest star in the third season of the show.
During an interview, Patinkin revealed why he decided to leave the series. It is safe to say that his decision to do the same is quite interesting, even bordering on controversial in the eyes of some fans.
Mandy Patinkin Regrets Joining Criminal Minds
In 2012, Mandy Patinkin gave an interview with New York Magazine where he talked about his unfortunate exit from Criminal Minds. When the actor initially left the series, there were rumors that the reason was creative differences (via Entertainment Weekly). However, the confession he made about his exit may shock many fans.
Debunking the rumors that were stirring when he first left the series in 2007, the actor revealed that he did not regret his decision to leave in the slightest. In fact, he stated that he wished that he had never joined the beloved series in the first place. He even went as far as to call it the biggest mistake he made publicly in his four-decade-long career.
The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place,
Although many fans would be upset about his comment, his reasoning for saying this would change their minds.
Mandy Patinkin Was Unsettled By the Macabre
Further in the interview, Mandy Patinkin revealed why he regretted joining the series, chalking it up to its dark themes. He revealed that when he first joined the series, he never expected its themes to be as repetitively dark as they were.
I never thought they were going to kill and r*pe all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality.
He added that he did not expect the series to portray brutal crimes against women time and time again with the creative freedom that they had. Patinkin stated that this part of the show was destructive to him on more than just a moral level, finding it affecting his personality and mind as a whole.
Audiences all over the world use this programming as their bedtime story. This isn’t what you need to be dreaming about.
Understanding the influence that television can have on its viewers, he also thought about the people who were watching the show and how its dark themes would affect them on a personal level. He added that there were fans out there who would watch the show before they went to sleep, causing him to wonder what kind of effect he was directly having on them.
It’s safe to say that Patinkin’s perspective on why he left the series makes complete sense, even though fans of the show would disagree about the negative effects of its dark themes.
Criminal Minds is available for streaming on Hulu.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
