** Executive producer confirms that Sara Sidle is…**

[Spoiler Alert!]

… in the September season premiere.

“I hate spoilers,” sighs Naren Shankar, co-executive producer and co-showrunner for CSI. He’s speaking to me over the phone from Los Angeles, where he and the rest of the CSI writing staff are breaking the story for the CSI/Without a Trace crossover episode.

“It’s a great way to flex some writing muscles,” Shakar says of the May sweeps storyline while munching on his lunch. “We think it will be great to have these two shows have an exciting episode between them.”

But back to the Sara Sidle question. When we last left Sara (Jorja Fox), she had been captured by the miniature killer; the CSI team found a scale model of a sports car flipped upside down on an abandoned road, with an animatronic hand poking out from underneath the vehicle, clenching and unclenching. Cut to the final scene of the episode, a rain-soaked road, a shattered sports car, and Sara’s hand, opening and closing futilely. Fade to black.

The early days of May revealed that Fox was in another contract dispute with CBS, and was asking for more cash. When it came to the final scene in the finale, Fox refused to show up on set, which lead to a costly rewrite and reshoot.

“I can’t tell you the status of Jorja’s contract,” Shankar says, though he confirms she is in Episode 1 of this season.

“What episode are you shooting now?” I ask.

“Episode 3,” he responds, which would indicate Fox is only in one episode so far. Is she pulling a “Mandy Patinkin”? We’ll have to wait to find out.

[…]