With Marg Helgenberger leaving her full-time role on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in January, the long-running procedural has snagged an Oscar nominated replacement.
CBS announced on Friday (November 18) that Elisabeth Shue is returning to Las Vegas to join the “CSI” cast as a series regular, making her first appearance on February 15, 2011.
“While it’s difficult to say goodbye to a beloved character like Catherine Willows, it’s exciting to start a journey with a new CSI, especially when that character is played by Elisabeth Shue,” states executive producer Carol Mendelsohn. “The new CSI also struggles with ‘brutal honesty issues’ and suffers no fools.”
The release announcing Shue’s casting says that the new character will be arriving in Sin City fresh off an anger management course. She’ll also be accompanied by rumors that she was fired by Ted Danson’s D.B. Russell when they worked together in Seattle.
“Elisabeth’s character will share a past, in another crime lab, with Ted Danson’s character,” states executive producer Don McGill. “The first time things didn’t go so well between the two of them. Maybe the second time’s the charm, or not.”
While she picked up her Oscar nomination for “Leaving Las Vegas,” a generation of film fans know her from “Adventures in Babysitting” and “The Karate Kid.” On the small screen, she’s dropped by “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Dream On” for guest-starring stints, and if you want to go way back, she was a regular on “Call to Glory.”