The Three Worst Criminal Minds Characters According To Fans

Having aired for over 300 episodes since debuting all the way back in 2005, it's safe to say that "Criminal Minds" is one of the most successful procedurals to grace the small screen in the 21st century. The CBS ratings sensation was supposed to conclude last year, but it didn't take long until plans were made to resurrect the show, though it's still far from certain whether we'll get to see a potential 16th season on Paramount+. If that happens, fans can rejoice in knowing they'll get to spend more time with the top-tier investigators — and serial killers — they've grown to love and loathe throughout the years.

Of course, not every character who's appeared in "Criminal Minds" has been a fan favorite. It's rare to find any show in which every character is popular across the board, and "Criminal Minds" is no exception. According to a recent Reddit debate, however, there are three characters who grind people's gears more than most. Let's find out who they are.

Played by Rachel Nichols, Ashley Seaver is an FBI agent with a dark family history. Her father is an infamous serial killer known as The Redmond Ripper, which is an association she finds difficult to shake off for obvious reasons. This is despite the fact that she's an impressive agent who uses her unique life experience to help the BAU bring killers to justice and soar through the ranks of the FBI.

There's no denying that Seaver has an interesting and complicated backstory, but that wasn't enough to make fans want to see more of her in "Criminal Minds." Some diehard viewers, including Reddit user u/tcamp213, believe that she "overstayed her welcome." That's quite a harsh criticism considering that she only appeared in Season 6, though her tenure could have lasted longer if behind-the-scenes drama didn't lead to Nichols exiting the series.

First introduced in the debut episode of the 10th season, Kate Callahan (Jennifer Love Hewitt) was brought into the BAU team by Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) to assist the team. Despite having a tragic backstory (she lost family members in the 9/11 attacks) and a love of karaoke and cute animals, fans just couldn't warm to her while she was a part of the BAU. In fact, some of them even petitioned to have her removed from "Criminal Minds"

While Callahan's name was brought up prominently in the Reddit thread, none of her critics dove into any specific reasons for why they disliked her. However, it may be down to the fact that she was tasked with filling the shoes of Alex Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who was popular among the show's base prior to leaving. Furthermore, the aforementioned petition noted that fans were displeased with Callahan receiving so much screen time at the expense of others.

Ashley Seaver and Kate Callahan probably weren't created to antagonize "Criminal Minds" fans, but Linda Barnes (Kim Rhodes) seemed designed to get under people's skin from the get-go. The show might revolve around despicable killers and other wicked villains, but Barnes is arguably more loathed than most of the actual criminals. Kirsten Vangsness, who played Penelope Garcia and co-wrote a few "Criminal Minds" episodes, even compared her to Dolores Umbridge (via TVLine), suggesting that she was never supposed to have any redeeming qualities as the FBI's assistant director of national security.

Reddit user u/Ok-Painting4471 noted that  "everyone knows why" Barnes is regarded so negatively, but we'll still dig into it. Despite only appearing in four Season 13 episodes, she almost dismantles the BAU, forces Rossi (Joe Mantegna) into retirement, and gets an unsub killed. She's essentially a politician who only cares about boosting the FBI's public profile, and she doesn't care what she has to do in order to get ahead. This selfishness and lack of humanity rubbed some viewers the wrong way, but at least she made an impact on them.