It remains a possibility that JJorja Fox will reprise her role as Sara Sidle for the upcoming season.
CSI: Vegas is back for another round of crime-solving, but may be without one of its stars.
CBS officially renewed the revival of its blockbuster franchise for a second season to air during the 2022-23 broadcast season on Wednesday, but original cast member William Petersen, who returned alongside Jorja Fox, is not expected to be back as Gil Grissom. It remains a possibility that Fox will reprise her role as Sara Sidle in the upcoming season.
ET has learned that Petersen, who will remain an executive producer on CSI: Vegas, only agreed to reprise his role as Grissom for the initial 10-episode season.
“The incredibly talented CSI: Vegas creative team and cast did a superb job this first season, brilliantly updating and portraying the CSI universe with fresh stories and a new crime lab, proving that after 20 years, the CSI fan base is still hungry for more and ready to embrace a new chapter in this illustrious franchise,” said Amy Reisenbach, Executive Vice President of Current Programs at CBS, in a statement.
CSI: Vegas debuted on Oct. 6, 21 years to the day the original series launched on CBS. According to CBS, the revival -- which ended its first season on Dec. 8 -- is one of the top five freshman series to premiere this year.
Showrunner Jason Tracey spoke with ET following the finale, which ended on an intriguing tease for a potential new case for the Crime Lab team in season 2.
"The images that you see at the very end of the episode, teasing where we might go in season 2 if there is a season 2, were something that me and Craig O'Neil, who we've been writing together for 15 years, have had kicking around in our mind for a long time," Tracey hinted. "It's a story that would be sprinkled in and lightly serialized -- probably not as intensely, not as every week as this season. But there's a big, complicated web of plot that can spin out from just those few seconds that you see at the end of the finale."
"This is a whole new launch for season 2 and I don't want to give too much away because we'll get to roll out those toys and build with those blocks in the early days of season 2, should we get that far. We had a lot of fun telling a serialized story this year, and that was because of the stakes and because it was our entry point and the reason for the season. It was an investment in time and storytelling capital that I don't know that we would go quite that serialized again," he added. "I think that you'll probably see a little bit more in the way of standard CSIs that are what have been the bread and butter of the franchise all along, and the fans love, is our case-of-the-week stuff. But I do think that we found a fun formula and a winning recipe for some serialization. You'll see more, probably less than season 1, but more than the original mothership."
CSI: Vegas is streaming now on Paramount+. For more, watch below.
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