Petersen: He's Out There

See Also: 'One To Go' Episode Guide

It's time to move on.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's leading man, William Petersen (Gil Grissom), will be saying goodbye to the series in the next episode, "One to Go". The actor made the decision to leave so he could return to his first love: the theater. "The reason I'm leaving is because I'm afraid I'm becoming too comfortable," Petersen told Entertainment Weekly. "It's CSI — they pay me a lot of money, and I don't have to work very hard anymore. I've got it all figured out. And I just realized, God, as an artist, I'm going to atrophy. You do anything for nine years, it becomes somewhat rote. I didn't want to be on the show because they were paying me money and I liked the money. I didn't want to be on the show because it saved me from having to go look for other jobs. Just didn't want it. It was too safe for me at this point. So I needed to try and break that, and the way to do that, for me, is the theater."

Petersen said he wouldn't miss the show or the character he's leaving behind. "It was a complete life for me that's reached its end, and it's reached it in the right way, I think. So I won't miss Grissom. And I hope that the audience won't miss him either," he explained. It is no secret that Petersen's coworkers are going to miss the actor and his presence in the series. "I couldn't stop crying," revealed costar Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows). "It was hard. I'm having a hard time now, because, you know, we had a great nine years together. It's just over. It's the end of an era."

Paul Guilfoyle (Jim Brass) agreed. "I have such a fondness for Billy, but the show will go on. It has to," the actor explained. To keep things rolling, CSI cast Laurence Fishburne (Dr Raymond Langston) as a new character coming in to take Grissom's spot on the team. "This is a man who is in transition," Fishburne revealed. "This is a man who had one career as a pathologist and sort of lost his way. It's not until he becomes a CSI that he finds his real second career path."

"The fun stuff begins when Grissom makes his exit, and Langston comes in as a bona fide CSI," Fishburne continued. The character has some troubles to start with. He messes up a crime scene, and it isn't easy for him to adjust to working on the night shift. While David Hodges (Wallace Langham) keeps his distance from the man replacing Grissom, Dr Al Robbins (Robert David Hall) quickly becomes a friend.

Losing Grissom has created a tricky situation, and some viewers have said they won't watch the show without Petersen in the cast. "I do care what they think," Mendelsohn said of the fans. "But all you have as a writer are your instincts...and we always thought Grissom having a life outside of CSI is where we were going to take him." Petersen, meanwhile, will stay on the show as a producer, and he has promised to return at some point in the future for a guest appearance. "He didn't die in a plane crash, he didn't get a brain tumor," the actor explained. "He's out there."

The full interview is from Entertainment Weekly. Thanks to Shane from TalkCSI for the heads up.

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