CBS renews CSI: Vegas without William Petersen and, possibly, Jorja Fox

Deadline

The CSI sequel series has been picked up for a second season without Petersen, who only agreed to reprise his Gil Grissom role for Season 1's 10 episodes. Jorja Fox also isn't on board for Season 2, but her contract gives her the option of returning as Sara Siddle if she chooses to -- and producers say they're hopeful she'll be back. “There’s no expectation on (Fox and Petersen)” to return for Season 2, showrunner Jason Tracey tells TVLine. “The door will always be open to a couple of legends, but we only asked them to come back to help us tell this finite number of episodes.” According to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, "the pickup makes it four-for-four for CBS so far this season, with all of the network’s freshman scripted series that launched this fall getting extra orders — Season 2 pickup for CSI: Vegas, which was designed for a limited, serialized freshman run, and back/full season orders for dramas FBI: International and NCIS: Hawai’i as well as comedy Ghosts. CBS’ successful fall 2021 freshman class features four of the top five new series this season in total viewers."