Fox: I Was Thrilled

See Also: 'One To Go' Episode Guide

Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) will return to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation during the upcoming tenth season.

As CSI Files previously reported, Fox will appear in at least five episodes during season ten. Her return coincides with the departure of Lauren Lee Smith's Riley Adams. "Right around March, I felt really rested and was itching to work—I was ready and going to meetings and auditioning," Fox told TV Guide Magazine. While filming a guest spot on the new Lifetime drama Drop Dead Diva, she was contacted about returning to her old stomping grounds.

"I got the call about CSI—it was completely out of the blue!" The actress explained. "I never thought I'd be going back to work with people that I knew, I thought I'd be starting new things. That was a surprise, so I'm going back to work and it's with the same people who I've worked with for eight years in the past. [Laughs] I was thrilled! For me it was a huge compliment!"

The actress has already started filming for season ten, and she said she is enjoying the experience. "It has just been a ball and a half," Fox shared. "I think CSI's premiere episode is one of the best that I've ever read. It's a pleasant surprise. You think, 'They're starting Season 10—how is it going to be as good as it was last year or four years ago?' And they blew me away."

Fox was tight-lipped about her return. "I think all I can really say is [pause] the team has had a rough year—there has been a lot going on—and so Sara comes back mostly just to see if she can help for a while, because she loves those guys and she misses them," the actress said. She had even less to say about Gil Grissom (William Petersen), who reunited with Sara in the jungle at the end of his final episode in season nine, "One to Go". "They've prevented me from discussing Grissom at all," she said, adding that Grissom's whereabouts will be revealed in the season premiere. "We hope we've picked the right stuff to be a surprise."

Executive producer Naren Shankar said Sara's return without Grissom does not mean the pair have split up. "They're absolutely together," he told Entertainment Weekly. However, the relationship may be going through a rough period. "We're talking about a couple of very independent individuals who have decided to share their life together," Shankar explained. "The first few months of that for any couple are a weird adjustment."

Shankar and fellow executive producer Carol Mendelsohn hope Fox's return will help smooth things over after all of the shake-ups in season nine. Petersen and Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) left, and Laurence Fishburne (Dr Ray Langston) and Lauren Lee Smith (Riley Adams) joined the Las Vegas crime lab. "The family had disintegrated a little bit," Shankar said. "We had people off in their own bubbles, and we want to restore that family [feeling]. And Jorja's helping with that."

"Sara comes in and brings everyone together," Mendelsohn added. "And she helps Catherine [Willows (Marg Helgenberger)] understand that as the [new] leader, she needs to make the team cohesive and really fire on all cylinders again." Mendelsohn would not reveal when or if the old team leader is scheduled to return. "You never know when Grissom will show up on CSI," she teased. "The theme of [season 10] is family. And he certainly is a big part of the family -- a big part of the family."

The interview with Fox is from TV Guide Magazine. The Entertainment Weekly information is from Jorja All Around. Thanks to Shane from TalkCSI for the heads up.

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