Is Jorja Fox Really Leaving CSI: Vegas?

While "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" may have wrapped up in 2015 (via IMDb), the series was partially rebooted upon the premiere of "CSI: Vegas" in 2021. Whereas previous spinoffs like "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY" introduced entirely new characters and locales to the franchise, "CSI: Vegas" brought back a couple of fan favorites from the original series for the first time since its conclusion.

"CSI: Vegas" is currently slated to return for a second season on a date that has yet to be announced, likely during the latter half of 2022. That said, the upcoming slate of "CSI: Vegas" episodes will be absent William Petersen, who first portrayed Dr. Gil Grissom in the original "CSI" series before reprising the character for "CSI: Vegas." As it turns out, Petersen only ever planned on appearing in "CSI: Vegas" for its first 10 episodes. Moving forward, Petersen will function as an executive producer in an unspecified capacity.

In the fiction of "CSI," Grissom is married to forensic scientist Sara Sidle, a character similarly portrayed by actor Jorja Fox in both "CSI" and "CSI: Vegas." Petersen's departure, therefore, implicitly brought Fox's presence in Season 2 of the new series into question.

In a thread she posted to her personal Twitter account, Jorja Fox revealed that she will not be returning to "CSI: Vegas" for its second season.

"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," she wrote. "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."

In a sense, this news is unsurprising, given that, upon initially announcing that she would return to "CSI: Vegas," Fox revealed that she only agreed to do so knowing that William Petersen was coming back as well. So, Fox's insistence on not splitting up Sara and Grissom has been core to the role from the series' outset, and is not a new or recent development.

Fox signed off her Twitter thread by encouraging fans of the show to keep watching even in her absence. "Keep tuning in!" she said. "I know I will. CSI VEGAS has an incredible team and it should be an amazing show!"