Another ‘CSI’ Vet May Return to ‘Vegas’ for Season 2
It might not just be the new CSIs in Season 2 of the sequel to the long-running hit.
Marg Helgenberger, who played Catherine Willows in the original CSI for 12 seasons (and returned for guest spots after that, including the finale), is “in talks” to return to the franchise, TVLine reports. This possible return comes after it was announced the two original series stars who appeared in the first season of CSI: Vegas — William Petersen and Jorja Fox — will not be back.
When Fox’s Sara Sidle returned to Las Vegas in the sequel’s premiere, following an attack on Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle), she told him, “Catherine has rolled out a red carpet. She would be here, you know that, if she could.” Jim agreed, “she’s got a little grandbaby in Dublin.”
So if Helgenberger does sign on, what might bring Catherine back to Vegas? Could it be the new serial killer introduced at the end of the Season 1 finale? Might that case connect to an old one? (Sara and Grissom did return due to former colleagues being involved in the season-long investigation.) “There’s more there than meets the eye,” showrunner Jason Tracey teased to TV Insider of that new case. “There’s a whole invented language behind those little doodles on the wall.”
Petersen only planned to do the first season, while Fox announced her exit herself on social media just over a month after the CBS drama was renewed. “After much deliberating, I have decided not to ‘Sidle up’ for CSI Vegas. For me CSI has always been a love story. The story that people can find love in the darkest of places and times. And the story that love, even in the darkest of places and times, can expand and grow roots and endure. I personally just can’t split Sara and Grissom up again. So goes Grissom…..So goes Sara. Wherever they go, they belong together,” she wrote in a series of tweets before urging fans to keep watching.
Two days after Fox’s announcement, it was reported that Mel Rodriguez, who played Chief Medical Examiner Hugo Ramirez, would not be returning either. The new team for the sequel series also includes Paula Newsome (as Maxine Roby), Matt Lauria (as Joshua Folsom), and Mandeep Dhillon (as Allie Rajan).
In addition to her role on CSI, Helgenberger’s TV credits include All Rise, Under the Dome, and Intelligence.
CSI: Vegas, Season 2, TBA, CBS
