Preview The New Season For All 3 ‘CSI’s

Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Preview offers fans a glimpse of what’s coming up for all three members of the CSI franchise. Spoilers after the jump!

CSI Files previously reported that singing sensation Justin Bieber would appear in the season eleven premiere of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. According to executive producer Carol Mendelsohn, Bieber’s character is part of “a group who believe that our country has been co-opted by profiteers.” The singer-turned-actor will be back in February to reprise his role.

Meanwhile, Marg Helgenberger has said this will be her final year playing Catherine Willows on the crime drama. Mendelsohn is making plans for the character, but she’s hoping Helgenberger will change her mind. “It’s a transitional year for Catherine,” Mendelsohn explained to EW. “It could be a way to end things for her—or to begin things.” CSI will premiere on Thursday, September 23 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

Over on CSI: New York, the premiere of season seven will show what happened after the screen went black and a gun went off at the end of the season six finale. “No one on our team died,” executive producer Pam Veasey revealed. In addition to resolving the cliffhanger, New York fans will see how the series handles the departure of Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera). Veasey had already written six episodes featuring Stella before the actress announced she was leaving, and the writing team had to work hard to introduce new leading lady Sela Ward (Jo Danville). “It was tough, but at the same time, that kind of surprise does wonderful things [creatively],” Veasey said.

Veasey described Jo as “a very confident, professional Southern woman who kicks her shoes off Friday night and spends time with her family.” The newest member of the team will jump right into the thick of things as the CSIs work on new cases featuring the webcam site Chatroulette and Battlestar Galactica’s Edward James Olmos as a former gang leader. CSI: NY will premiere in its new timeslot on Friday, September 24 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

CSI: Miami will be the last member of the franchise to debut new episodes. At the end of last season, most of the team was unconscious on the floor of the lab. “All of our CSIs are in an extremely vulnerable position,” explained executive producer Barry O’Brien, “and—how do we survive this?—one of them may not survive.” Executive producer Marc Dube teased, “Anyone keeps an eye on contract negotiations may get some sense [of what happens].” As CSI Files previously reported, CBS opted not to pick up Eddie Cibrian’s (Jesse Cardoza) contract after season eight.

Cibrian might be gone, but Adam Rodriguez (Eric Delko) will be back full time during season nine—just in time to deal with some old enemies. A prison break puts one of Miami’s most notorious villains back on the street. “It’s going to serve as a season-long arc for us,” O’Brien said. “Some of these former nemeses of Delko and Horatio [Caine, David Caruso] are going to emerge and pose a tangible threat.” Miami will premiere in its new Sunday night timeslot on October 3 at 10:00pm ET/PT.

Source: The Fall TV Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly, which is on newsstands now. Thanks to Shane from TalkCSI for the info!