Petersen: 'Time Is Coming To Do Something Else'

William Petersen (Gil Grissom) suggested this week he's already made up in his mind on when he will depart from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

"It's hard to play the same character all the time; at some point you want to be released from that," Petersen told the British Radio Times. "I understood that going into CSI to a certain degree, but you don't know how long it's going to last. I think the time is coming when it will be the right choice for Grissom and the audience for me to do something else. I sort of know when, but it's between me and the producers."

Over the past few years, Petersen already managed to scale back his workload on CSI, taking time off to star in a play, but also forcing producers to change the way the show is filmed. "I was burning out," Petersen said, describing the often grueling workdays he had to face. "I said, 'I can't continue to do this at this pace because it makes me unhealthy, and it's too difficult to have a life.' On a lot of shows they work too hard, too fast. Everybody starts to hate each other and all of a sudden the show implodes. Now we have designed it so that we can survive."

If Petersen does stay on the show for a while longer, a reason might be that he feels responsible for the many people the show employs. The actor related a tale of his family's furniture business, the example of which provided Petersen with a strong work ethic. "[My family never makes] any money and they work long hours, and I've asked my dad and brother over the years, 'Why don't you sell up and retire?' But they say it's because it gives livelihoods to 20 people. I was always impressed by that. On CSI we give work to 200 people and I feel a real obligation to them. I believe acting is just what I do for work."

Even if Petersen does eventually leave, the show will probably continue without him, and there'll always be CSI: Miami and CSI: New York, too. But Petersen, who in the past has been deeply critical of the spin-offs, still seems unhappy with their existence. "I still think that the other shows could have been done in a more interesting way. I think they just rubber-stamped them and stuck more of them out there. CSI: Miami does 24 shows a year, CSI: NY does 24; everyone gets tired. There's a whole lot of stories we can't do because of the other shows, and that's a problem."

For Petersen, who is not a fan of talking to the media, this was his first UK interview in six years. To read the full version of it, pick up the new edition of the Radio Times, available now.

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