The actor posted on X that "sadly my days of playing Will LaMontagne Jr. are over," adding "You guys have been the very best."
Stewart (pictured) first appeared as a recurring character on the CBS original drama Criminal Minds in season two as NOPD Detective William LaMontagne Jr. He appeared in at least one episode every season. In the two-part season seven finale, Will married Special Agent J.J. Jareau (A.J. Cook). He appeared in nine of the ten episodes in the first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, at one point revealing to J.J. that he was afraid he had cancer.
“It’s based on a true-life illness that we wanted to honor,” showrunner Erica Messer told Deadline’s sister pub TVLine in a previous interview. “We wanted to plant that seed now.” She went on to say, fortunately Will just had an inflamed thyroid, so “next [season], hopefully, he’s going to be OK,” Messer said. “But” — and that but looms very large now — “he’s not necessarily out of the woods forever.”
The second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution starts this year.
We reached out to series reps for comment on Stewart's social media post.
Criminal Minds: Evolution is an extension of CBS' original series that ran from 2005-2020. In the first season, the FBI's elite team of criminal profilers must deal with an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. When the world opens up again and the network becomes operational, the team must hunt them down, one kill at a time.
Original cast members continuing in their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Zach Gilford participated in the first season as a recurring guest actor.
Criminal Minds: Evolution is produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios. Messer is showrunner and executive producer. Breen Frazier, Chris Barbour, Glenn Kershaw and Mark Gordon also executive produce.