Originally Posted by
nikkij_26
Hotch and Morgan (Shemar) were due to resign this year and there was some question if they would resign and things holding up a deal. However, just this past week or so Shemar resigned. Hotch has still not resigned all though they think he will. Since when they filmed the finale it was still up in the air if they would resign instead of doing a somebody getting killed type cliffhanger for those whose contracts hadn't been signed they decided to do the budget cut story. They felt it was real life and actually something they went through (JJ, Prentiss), so they would use that as the cliffhanger. They put in the stories with Garcia and the others as options for who might be leaving for those who didn't know about Hotch & Morgan. Therefore, fans would be scared about who else might be leaving. Plus, they gave the gift of JJ coming back with mystery surrounding why, leaving open also that it might surround Hotch's situation and Prentiss possibly coming back. They won't know about Prentiss 'til they see what's up with her pilot that got picked up.
:winkgrin