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"Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson has insisted that the show&amp;#039;s future is secure. He told Entertainment Weekly that the CBS crime drama is simply going through a period of &amp;quot;transition&amp;quot; following the departure of stars A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster. &amp;quot;Each year seems to have contained the challenges of transition, and no greater transition has been called upon than this year,&amp;quot; he suggested. &amp;quot;The show is continuing just like the team is continuing, but hopefully we&amp;#039;re ready for whatever the next transition is.&amp;quot; Gibson, who plays BAU team leader Hotch, claimed that many viewers are still &amp;quot;connected&amp;quot; to the show. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think there are any wishy-washy fans,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I think there are fans who are very connected, and we&amp;#039;re grateful for them, so hopefully they will [stick around]. We&amp;#039;ve still got stories to tell, and I want us to tell them well. Hopefully people are along for the ride.&amp;quot; The actor added that he is &amp;quot;still in talks&amp;quot; with the show&amp;#039;s producers about staying on for a potential seventh season. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m hoping to be on the show,&amp;quot; he confirmed. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m planning on being on the show, but we&amp;#039;re still talking. That&amp;#039;s all I can say at this point. I know I certainly don&amp;#039;t feel like it&amp;#039;s time to turn off the lights or anything like that.&amp;quot; Criminal Minds continues on Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS. &amp;gt; Denise Dowse for &amp;#039;Criminal Minds&amp;#039; role &amp;gt; Click here to keep track of the latest renewals and cancellations with our 2011-12 season TV scorecard "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a312094/criminal-minds-star-expects-renewal/>