Criminal Minds Final Season Pushed to Midseason on CBS

If it wasn’t sad enough that there’s only one abbreviated season of Criminal Minds left, fans will have to wait longer than expected to be able to say goodbye to the crew at the BAU.

CBS announced its fall schedule on Wednesday morning, and the long-running procedural is conspicuously absent from the fall lineup. The series has held down the Wednesday at 10/9c spot for several seasons now, but now that timeslot will be taken over by S.W.A.T. (which is headlined by Criminal Minds alum Shemar Moore), meaning that the final season of Criminal Minds will be held for midseason.

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What makes this extra surprising is, the cast and crew are almost done filming the final episodes, which means they would be ready in plenty of time for a fall launch. But it’s likely CBS will run the final 10 episodes in late winter or early spring, making fans wait almost a year for new episodes.

In the meantime, the cast has already taken to social media to say their goodbyes. Joe Mantegna, who replaced Mandy Patinkin in Season 3, has already filmed his last scene and posted an emotional goodbye to the show, the crew, and his fans on Instagram.

Matthew Gray Gubler also posted a video from his last day on set with a caption that said he couldn’t stop crying.

AJ Cook posted some fun photos from the final days on set, while Paget Brewster posted a photo of the team with their BAU rings.

However, the most tearful goodbye might be from Kirsten Vangsness, who posted a photo montage with a caption about how her heart was breaking from joy. We’re going to miss this team so much.

(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation)

Kirsten Vangsness, Criminal MindsPhoto: Screen Grab, CBS