The finale of Criminal Minds bought some bad news with it, as Jennifer Love Hewitt's character Kate Callahan left the BAU.

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While fans are still dismaying about her exit, there is hope yet, as the show will always keep its doors open for Hewitt, if she chose to come back. Hewitt had to leave the show after joining for season 10 because she got pregnant and wanted to gear up for a full time parenting job. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Erica Messer dished about the possibility of Hewitt's return for season 12, after she was done with one year of dedicating time for her baby.

"Yeah, we left it open creatively. Hotch says, 'You always have a place here,' and we believe that wholeheartedly off-screen as well. It was a great season and we had a lot of fun with her," she said. "One of the great things about our show is you can leave those doors open. We rarely kill anyone. That opportunity for paths to cross again is definitely open. Everybody is on board with that. Of course, no one has a crystal ball, so it's hard to predict two years from now what's going on-or a year from now. But it's something we'd definitely creatively keep open."

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Messer also said they might entertain the prospect of having Kate show up for a cameo in season 11 but they weren't really planning on it.

"We're moving on, and thinking about new ideas and characters and what we can play on with our mythology after 10 years," she said. "I really want to honor her wishes of being able to go home and concentrate on being a mama to two babies. I've been there; it's a lot of work. I haven't even approached that with her yet. But because we've left the door open, if there's a massive case and we need to call Kate back, that's something I'd love to be able to do."

The finale of Criminal Minds Season 10 aired on May 6.

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