TV Query: Why is Thomas Gibson still on ‘Criminal Minds’ after being fired?

TV Query: If Thomas GIbson was fired from “Criminal Minds,” why is he still appearing in Season 12?

The BAU is going to be without two key members when “Criminal Minds” returns Wednesday (Sept. 28) — except one of them is not gone just yet.

Thomas Gibson was fired after an on-set altercation with a producer, so fans may be wondering why he appears in the first two episode of Season 12?

The fact is that the altercation took place while the cast and crew were filming Season 12 and therefore Gibson will appear on the show briefly before his character departs for good.

RELATED: Will ‘Criminal Minds’ fans even miss Thomas Gibson’s Hotch?

The dust-up with the producer is not Gibson’s first incident of trouble on the set.

In 2010, Gibson pushed an assistant director while filming a scene and then claimed it was because the AD was moving too slowly. This time around, he allegedly kicked a producer, though Gibson says he “tapped” the producer on the leg.

“As [the producer] brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg. If I hadn’t moved, he would have run into me,” the actor tells People.

But producers felt that warranted dismissing Gibson from the show, which comes on the heels of losing fellow original cast member Shemar Moore — though Moore’s departure was much less controversial.

RELATED: Is Emily Prentiss the new BAU chief on ‘Criminal Minds’?

Moore left the popular CBS crime drama at the end of Season 11 of his own volition, telling TV Guide that it was just time to move on.

“I’m leaving because I just creatively want to be fueled and [am] excited to try new things and see what else I’m capable of,” he said at the time.

The two BAU absences will quickly be filled by the return of Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), who left the show as a series regular at the end of Season 7. She has popped up as a special guest several times since then, but is back as a series regular in Season 12.

“Criminal Minds” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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