Jorja Fox won’t return as Sara Sidle for CSI: Vegas season 2

Although CSI: Vegas has been renewed for a second season by CBS, it will do so without the two franchise stars that anchored its return. William Petersen and Jorja Fox returned as Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, respectively, for CSI: Vegas, and while it was confirmed that Petersen wouldn’t be returning for season 2, there was hope that Fox would come back. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Jorja Fox took to Twitter to announce that she would not be returning for CSI: Vegas season 2. “After much deliberating, I have decided not to ‘Sidle up’ for CSI Vegas,” Fox wrote. “For me, CSI has always been a love story. The story that people can find love in the darkest of places and times. And the story that love, even in the darkest of places and times, can expand and grow roots and endure. I personally just can’t split Sara and Grissom up again. So goes Grissom…..So goes Sara. Wherever they go, they belong together.“

The first season of CSI: Vegas opened a “brand new chapter in Las Vegas, the city where it all began” as the city faces an “existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City.” In addition to William Petersen and Jorja Fox, CSI: Vegas also starred Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, Mandeep Dhillon, and Jamie McShane, as well as franchise veterans Paul Guilfoyle (Jim Brass) and Wallace Langham (David Hodges). Although William Petersen won’t be back, he will remain on board as an executive producer for the new season.

“The incredibly talented CSI: Vegas creative team and cast did a superb job this first season, brilliantly updating and portraying the CSI universe with fresh stories and a new crime lab, proving that after 20 years, the CSI fan base is still hungry for more and ready to embrace a new chapter in this illustrious franchise,” said Amy Reisenbach, EVP, Current Programs, CBS, when the renewal was first announced. Although the ratings for CSI: Vegas didn’t reach the heights of the original series, it did perform well when delayed viewing/streaming numbers were taken into account. Season 2 of CSI: Vegas will premiere during the 2022-2023 broadcast season.