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“This will be a year of transition for the show,” concedes Mendehlson. “We always knew it was coming, and I’m glad it didn’t come until now.” At this point, she’s confident that, like Law & Order and ER, CSI is a franchise that can weather such cast shifts. “There’s never going to be another William Petersen, and there will never be another Jorja Fox,” she hastens to add. “But we are not out to just replace those actors. We’re out to add new characters to the show, and the show will change as a result. But that’s a good thing.” […]

Helping Grissom through the crisis will be his true love, Sara, played by Fox, who is returning for multiple episodes, starting with the season premiere. While Petersen confirms that Sara will figure into Grissom’s final arc, he stops just short of saying the couple will ride off into the desert together at the end of episode 10. “I wouldn’t want to say exactly what we’re going do - I want people to watch, certainly,” he chuckled. “But Sara is involved… It’s often darkest just before the dawn.”

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