Shemar Moore has officially announced that he is leaving "Criminal Minds." He played Derek Morgan in the CBS crime drama series for 11 years.
"I'm leaving because I want to continue to grow as an actor," TV Line quoted Moore as saying. "I'm leaving to see what else I'm capable of."
In addition, Moore explained that he needs balance in his life, which he said is hard to achieve with the schedule he has as an actor. He pointed out that he loves what he does for a living but he also wants to travel, walk his dogs, get married and have kids.
On the big screen, Moore is set to star in the upcoming romantic film "The Bounce Back," which is directed by Youssef Delara. Among his co-stars are Nadine Velasquez, Kali Hawk, Michael Beach, Matthew Willig, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Robinne Lee, Nishi Munshi, Bill Bellamy and Denise Boutte, among others.
Moore has nothing but good words about his "Criminal Minds" co-actors Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness, Joe Mantegna and Thomas Gibson. They play Dr. Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia, David Rossi and Aaron Hotchner, respectively.
For Moore, what makes him proud of Gubler, Vangsness, Mantegna and Gibson is that they not only worked hard but also defied the odds to create a hit show together. Moore said, "Everything we did was together."
Airing on CBS on March 23, Wednesday, "Criminal Minds" Season 11 episode 18 titled "A Beautiful Disaster" was directed by Gubler and co-written by Vangsness with showrunner Erica Messer. The episode also marks Mia Hunt and Ana Dela Cruz's debut in the CBS series.
In a recent interview with Parade, Vangsness talked about co-writing "A Beautiful Disaster" with Messer. She said one of the most enjoyable things of writing the episode is that when something happens to somebody on the team, everybody is thrown and no one is in his or her regular mind, which is calm, expanded and creative enough to solve problems.
Vangsness pointed out that a good drama involves people making mistakes. In such stories, she said, people say words they are not supposed to.
Watch Moore talk about "Criminal Minds" here: