This spring, CBS made the tough decision to cancel its longtime procedural, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. However, CBS has ultimately opted to let CSI go out gracefully with a two-hour TV movie. Unfortunately, while it initially seemed as if all of the former and current CSI cast members would probably reunite for the big swan song, news broke over the weekend that George Eads will not return, after all.
Honestly, this shouldn’t be a huge shock for anyone who has kept up with CSI over the last couple of seasons. Before he ultimately announced he was leaving the show at the end of the 2014-2015 TV season, Eads had had problems with the writing staff and had even taken a leave of absence for a time. George Eads’ character was successfully written out of the plot during Season 15 in a way that ended the character’s run on the show but still left Nick Stokes open to returning.
With that in mind, TV Line reports the writing team had been hoping the actor would show up and had been written in to the 2-hour TV special. The script was already ready and Nick Stokes was going to make a comeback when Eads announced he would not be returning, after all.
On the bright side, he wasn’t given a huge role in the final episode, and the outlet reports the script did not have to go through major rewrites after the actor said no. It's hard to tell why he didn't feel the gig was a gig fit, although he did just leave the series, which may have had something to do with it. Neither Eads nor CBS are excited about talking about the reason why he said no.
Eads isn’t the first cast member to say no to the big CSI goodbye special. Recently, we also learned that Elisabeth Shue will not be returning for the big two-hour shebang. That announcement is actually a lot weirder than Eads,’ considering Shue was involved with the show through 2015 and had made no plans to exit; she also currently has not announced another big acting gig.
It’s not all bad news, however. CSI favorite William Petersen, who played the beloved Gil Grissom on the popular procedural, is taking some time off of WGN America’s Manhattan to return to the CBS program. Marg Helgenberger has also expressed excitement over returning to the drama, and a good chunk of the show’s former cast members are expected to be back. The whole 2-hour episode seems to be formatted in a way that should be pleasant for fans, whether or not they stuck with the show for its lengthy tenure, and that’s really good news.
Luckily, we won’t have too long to wait to say goodbye to CSI: Crime Scene Investgation. CBS is kicking off the fall TV schedule with the goodbye episode, which will air over at the network on September 27, 2015. If you are still invested in the CSI franchise, CSI: Cyber will also be returning to the schedule this fall.
