'CSI' Promises Changes This Season

See Also: 'All In' Episode Guide

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar offered more information about what is coming up during the show's tenth season.

As CSI Files previously reported, new leading man Laurence Fishburne (Dr Ray Langston) will get a wardrobe change at the start of the season. However, Shankar clarified that such comments were "taken out of context." He explained to Entertainment Weekly, "This is Laurence Fishburne we're talking about. It's not like we're sitting him down in a chair and giving him a makeover. It's really about who this character is now. When he came on board, he was a newbie, he was still very much the professor holding onto that kind of life. At the end of the season he shoots somebody, and it has a pretty profound effect on how he views himself in this world."

Shankar added that Langston has "really thrown himself into being a CSI" by the time season ten starts, "so his look changes to reflect that. He really embraces what it is to be a criminalist. He's wearing the forensic jackets to the scene. That's all it is."

CSI Files also reported that Nick Stokes (George Eads) will be getting a promotion at the start of the season. Langston will also get a promotion, Mendelsohn revealed. "One of the things that is part and parcel of the new season is Ray Langston graduating from being that newbie to being a CSI 2," she explained to the Chicago Tribune. During the time between the season nine finale, "All In", and the season ten premiere, Langston has been "taking every class and seminar he could" in order to become the criminalist Gil Grissom (William Petersen) believed he could be.

"I don't want to speak for Laurence Fishburne, but I think what attracted him to the show was that he wasn't coming on as just another supervisor, that he was coming in as a newbie and was coming in to learn," Mendelsohn continued. "We thought that would be a great opportunity for the audience to re experience the fundamentals of forensics. It was always thought that he would graduate very quickly into [being] a more learned CSI."

Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) will return for the first five episodes of the season because the departure of Riley Adams (Lauren Lee Smith) will leave the CSI team understaffed. Mendelsohn said there are no plans to cast a replacement for Riley at the present time. There are also no definite plans to bring Grissom back. "We're hoping Grissom will make a return appearance we don't have a date and we don't have a deal, but we talk to Billy all the time and he would love to come back," Mendelsohn said.

The return of Sara is partially responsible for the promotion that Nick will receive in the season premiere. "The interesting thing is, Catherine[ Willows, Marg Helgenberger]'s decision to promote Nick, even though it's well deserved, is facilitated by the arrival of Sara Sidle. [Catherine then] sees the world according to Sara Sidle and realizes something about leadership and about the team."

Mendelsohn also revealed that the team would come in contact with someone from their past. "In Episode 2, the team will come across the offspring of our most celebrated serial killer. He's the son of the very first serial killer that was ever featured on CSI," she said. "His father was a nemesis for Grissom. Do we treat him any differently than we treat any other suspect? Are we prejudiced against him?" As CSI Files previously reported, the nemesis in question is Paul Millander (Matt O'Toole), who was last seen in "Identity Crisis" during CSI's second season.

In addition to an old acquaintance, CSI will get the season underway by introducing a new criminal. "Starting at the end of Episode 1, [the show will have] a very different kind of serial killer for us, we're calling him Dr Jekyll," Mendelsohn added. "The crime scene will be a lot smaller than we've ever experienced." As Shankar previously revealed about Dr Jekyll, "the crime scene is always the body."

The original information is from Entertainment Weekly and the Chicago Tribune.

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