Sara Sidle is signing off from CSI: Vegas.

Jorja Fox will not be returning for season 2 of CBS’ CSI update, the actress revealed in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning.

Fox’s decision to leave ahead of the new season comes one month after CBS picked up the series for a sophomore installment and acknowledged that fellow original cast member William Petersen, who returned to reprise his role as Gil Grissom, only had a one-season deal and was not expected to return. The actress cited Petersen’s absence as a large reason why she opted not to come back.

“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.”

“Thanks for watching everyone!!!!! Keep tuning in! I know I will. CSI: Vegas has an incredible team and it should be an amazing show!” she wrote in the last tweet.

Hey all you #CSI fans! After much deliberating, I have decided not to ‘Sidle up’ for CSI Vegas. For me CSI has always been a love story. The story that people can find love in the darkest of places and times. (1)

— Le Fox (@JorjaFoxofficia) January 25, 2022

Showrunner Jason Tracey spoke with ET following the finale, which ended on an intriguing tease for a potential new case for the Crime Lab team in season 2.

“The images that you see at the very end of the episode, teasing where we might go in season 2 if there is a season 2, were something that me and Craig O’Neil, who we’ve been writing together for 15 years, have had kicking around in our mind for a long time,” Tracey hinted. “It’s a story that would be sprinkled in and lightly serialized – probably not as intensely, not as every week as this season. But there’s a big, complicated web of plot that can spin out from just those few seconds that you see at the end of the finale.”

“This is a whole new launch for season 2 and I don’t want to give too much away because we’ll get to roll out those toys and build with those blocks in the early days of season 2, should we get that far. We had a lot of fun telling a serialized story this year, and that was because of the stakes and because it was our entry point and the reason for the season. It was an investment in time and storytelling capital that I don’t know that we would go quite that serialized again,” he added. “I think that you’ll probably see a little bit more in the way of standard _CSI_s that are what have been the bread and butter of the franchise all along, and the fans love, is our case-of-the-week stuff. But I do think that we found a fun formula and a winning recipe for some serialization. You’ll see more, probably less than season 1, but more than the original mothership.”

CSI: Vegas stars Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mandeep Dhillon and Mel Rodriguez.

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