Ward: I’m Thrown Into The Fire Right Away

Sela Ward jumped at the chance to play Jo Danville on CSI: New York starting this fall. (Spoilers and embedded video after the jump!)

As CSI Files previously reported, Ward is replacing Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) in the New York cast. Stella won’t be back when season seven gets underway, and Jo is immediately thrust into the action when a dead body is found in the crime lab. “The first day my character shows up to work there’s a dead body in their lab,” Ward told Entertainment Tonight. “So right away, the whole show is trying to solve this crime: Who is she? How did it happen? How did she get in here? [It is a] very interesting storyline. I’m sort of thrown into the fire right away.”

Ward was spending time with her children in Mississippi over the summer when she got the call about joining the New York cast. “I thought about it,” the actress said, and she decided that “the timing is just perfect.” She continued, “I haven’t been working because of my kids. I wanted to be with them, and now they’re older. My son is 16, and my daughter just turned 12 this summer, and I thought, ‘Okay, you know what, I think I’m ready.'”

The actress was glad to work with CSI: NY‘s leading man Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor). “It’s wonderful to have Sela come on the show,” Sinise said. “We had a wonderful six years with Melina on the show, and we got very fortunate when Sela agreed to come in and do the job. We’re all very excited and very happy about it.”

“I think I’m fitting in just fine,” Ward revealed. “They’re a great group of guys. The character I play is a former FBI agent. She’s coming up from Virginia—Langley and [Washington,] DC. [She’s] very accomplished, very capable.” The actress added that Jo is “on equal footing” with the rest of the New York team.

You can check out the full video below, which features glimpses of the season premiere: