TV Guide Magazine

Oh No They Didn't!

Inside sources reveal top secrets about the season’s biggest burning questions

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Why did CSI’s Warrick have to die (and was the story line influenced by Gary Dourdan’s real-life troubles)?

“Executive Producer Carol Mendelsohn says”: We thought that if we ever lost Warrick [Dourdan], this was the way he would go. Warrick’s a local guy. The only family he had was Grissom [William Petersen] and the team, so this was not a guy who was going to leave Las Vegas or CSI. We knew where we were going with Warrick long before Gary went to the Coachella music festival [Dourdan was arrested for drug possession shortly after attending the festival], and that it would be a truly classic battle-a battle to the death. I think you will see that Undersheriff McKeen [who shot Warrick] will be one of the most worthy adversaries that the team has ever gone up against because he is so smart, because he is so trained, and he can think of all the angles. The premiere [of season 9] is the last time you will probably see our entire cast together. Our original cast. And that means Sara Sidle [Jorja Fox] as well.

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