‘CSI’ Sequel Ordered to Series at CBS — Who’s Officially Returning?
Cue up The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” — CBS has officially ordered CSI: Vegas, a sequel to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, to series.
Original stars William Petersen and Jorja Fox will be back as Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, respectively, as we return to the Crime Lab in Las Vegas and those who work in it. (Are they still together? We’ll have to wait to see.) Also back is Wallace Langham, who plays David Hodges. Joining them are Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, and Mandeep Dhillon.
“Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant new team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City,” the logline reveals.
“Twenty-one years ago, we launched CSI and watched in awe as this new cinematic series launched an entire genre and became a groundbreaking juggernaut that still has global resonance today,” Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome the next generation of forensic criminalists to the CSI brand and unite them with the legendary characters from the past who we still love, including the extraordinary Billy Petersen and Jorja Fox. Crimefighting technology has advanced dramatically over the last several years, and combined with classic CSI storytelling, we can’t wait to watch this new CSI team do what they do best: follow the evidence.”
Fans were first introduced to the CSI franchise when the original, created by Anthony Zuiker, premiered in 2000. Its 335 episodes aired across 15 seasons. The series also starred Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, and Paul Guilfoyle. There’s no word yet if we might see anyone else who appeared at any point during those 15 seasons again in the sequel.
The crime drama launched spinoffs including CSI: Miami (2002-2012), CSI: New York (2004-2013), and CSI: Cyber (2014-2016).
Jason Tracey will serve as executive producer and showrunner for CSI: Vegas. Uta Briesewitz will direct and executive produce the first episode. Joining Tracey as executive producers on the series are Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed, Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue, Craig O’Neill, Petersen, and Cindy Chvatal.
CSI: Vegas, TBA, CBS