When
CSI returns for its 10th season, the lab will once again be short staffed. Executive producer Naren Shankar confirms to
TVGuideMagazine.com that
Lauren Lee Smith will not return as series regular, Riley Adams. “She’s not going to be back for Season 10,” he tells us exclusively. “It was an issue of how we were feeling the ensemble was working. When we brought in the character of Riley, it got lost in the shuffle a little bit because we had lost Warrick, we had lost Sara, and then in the middle of last season Grissom finally left. I think, as a result, the character never quite found its footing in terms of the rest of the gang.”
Riley’s absence will open up a slot for Sara Sidle, who is now ready to return to work after her severe burnout in Season 8. “She shows up because the team is understaffed,” says Shankar. “The undersheriff reaches out for a recommendation and Sara says, ‘I think that person might be me.’”
Jorja Fox returns for at least five episodes, which will address what has been going on with Sara and Grissom and why she is able to work again as a CSI. Shankar doesn’t yet know if Sara is in Vegas to stay, but adds that we’ll see plenty of her while she is there. “We’re going to spotlight her for the episodes that she’ll be in,” he promises.