Calleigh And Delko Face A Rocky Road Ahead

With Adam Rodriguez preparing to leave CSI: Miami this season, Eric Delko’s relationship with Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) has an uncertain future. (Minor spoilers after the jump.)

Rodriguez will appear in ten episodes over the course of the season, allowing his character to have a proper exit. Eric’s relationship with Calleigh will also be dealt with before the actor says goodbye to Miami. “There will be resolution with Eric and Calleigh, and it will be a nice, slow exit,” Rodriguez revealed. “I think people will be happy with the way it all ends.”

“Eric and Calleigh have many, many scenes to do together, but realistically, at the moment there hasn’t been any closure,” Procter added. In the season seven finale, “Seeing Red”, Calleigh shot at Eric while he was trying to help his father, Russian mobster Alexander Sharova (Rade Serbedzija). “She’s definitely facing an internal struggle,” Procter explained. “I think that’s going to be very difficult. She is saying publicly that she doesn’t care, but she cares very much and it’s very difficult. But she’s also such a straight arrow, and I think she believes she was just following protocol.”

While Eric fights for his life in the premiere, Miami will flash back to when the team first met. “You see everyone’s enthusiasm for when they first got the job, and hopefully people will be able to notice how we’ve subtly changed,” Procter said. “I think it’s easy with a procedural to think people don’t have that much arc to their character, but I’m hoping that [the audience will see] that we do.”

In the flashback, fans will get the first glimpse of Jesse Cardoza (Eddie Cibrian), who will transfer into the team in the second episode of the season. “It turns out they met on Calleigh’s first day at the Miami Dade Police Department,” Procter explained. “He was on his way out as she was on her way in. So they have this old, established friendship at this point, and I think their characters are very easy with one another.”

When asked whether that friendship could become a romantic relationship down the line, Procter said, “[W]ho knows? It’s CSI: Miami and it’s Calleigh Duquesne, so anything can happen!”