Everything You Need to Know About CSI: Vegas Season 2

Marg Helgenberger returns!

It will be out with the old—William Petersen and Jorja Fox—and in with the old— when Marg Helgenberger returns to her role as Catherine Willows for the second season of CSI: Vegas when Catherine persuades Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome) to let her rejoin the team.

“Everybody has been excessively welcoming, and I feel the love,” Helgenberger said of her return to the crime scene investigation series. “I feel their respect towards me. I'm so grateful for that. I'm having a hell of a lot of fun working with everybody. The set is vastly different than our original set. I'm still discovering new rooms, in fact. Of course, I miss some of the old gang, but I got over that pretty quickly, because everybody has been so welcoming and gracious.”

Here's everything you need to know as the drama unfolds:

When does CSI: Vegas season 2 premiere?

CSI: Vegas will premiere on Thursday, Sept. 29 on CBS.

What time will CSI: Vegas season 2 air?

CSI: Vegas moves to a new day and time with its move to Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Who is joining CSI: Vegas cast in season 2?

Marg Helgenberger

Marg Helgenberger will be reprising her role as Catherine Willows. Willows left the Las Vegas Crime Lab when she got an offer to join the FBI, but she always had ties to Las Vegas, especially because she inherited a casino hotel—and maybe more—from her father Sam Braun. Willows was mentioned in season 1 as someone who donated money to her old lab to bring it state-of-the-art for 2021.

Even as Helgenberger returns to CBS for CSI: Vegas, she will also rejoin the OWN-acquired All Rise as Judge Lisa Benner, a recurring cast member.

“Marg Helgenberger is part of the show, very much part of the show,” All Rise executive producer/showrunner Dee Harris Lawrence told reporters during the winter TCA panel for the OWN series. “I’m very excited about her—I mean she’s in the first episode.”

After All Rise was canceled by CBS and before it was picked up by OWN, Helgenberger had landed a starring role in the NBC pilot Getaway, which initially prevented her from rejoining her All Rise cast members as a series regular when the series was picked up by OWN last fall. Everything changed when Getaway wasn’t picked up to series and Helgenberger was once more available.

Who is in the CSI: Vegas cast?

Paula Newsome

Paula Newsome resumes her role as Maxine Roby, the new head of the Crime Lab.

Matt Lauria

Matt Lauria is back as Josh Folsom, a Level 3 CSI.

Mandeep Dhillon

Mandeep Dhillon will return as Allie Rajan, a Level II CSI.

Jay Lee

Jay Lee will reprise his role as Chris Park.

Ariana Guerra as Detective Serena Chavez

Lex Medlin as Beau Finado

Newsome, Lauria and Dhillon are returning from season 1, as is Lee, but he got a promotion to series regular from recurring.

New are Medlin, whose character Beau is a vastly overqualified CSI Level I, and Guerra as a detective, who is the daughter of cops.

Also new is Sara Amini, who will play the new medical examiner Sonya and Joel Johnstone as Jack, her assistant medical examiner.

Sherri Saum will also be joining the cast in the recurring role of Jodi, a board member of the Eclipse Casino who will be working with Catherine Willows to help solve a case, according to TV Line.

Who is leaving CSI: Vegas in season 2?

William Petersen

William Peterson, who had returned to his starring role as Gil Grissom, had only signed a one-year deal, so it is no surprise that he exited the show following the finale.

Jorja Fox

Peterson's departure made it impossible for Jorja Fox to stay on as Sara Sidle as she explains in the following two Twitter posts:

"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.”

“And the story that love, even 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."

Mel Rodriquez

Also departing, and this one was a surprise is Mel Rodriquez, who exited his role as Chief Medical Examiner Hugo Ramirez.

Related: Jorja Fox on Joining CSI: Vegas To Keep the Bad Guys in Jail!

Wallace Langham

Now that David Hodges (Wallace Langham) has been found innocent, the retired CSI will most likely not appear in season 2—but we could be surprised. Possibly, the reveal in the season finale of who framed him will result in Hodges still finding work as an independent expert witness and we may see him in court.

What will season 2 of CSI: Vegas be about?

Here is the Season 2 description from CBS:

"Amidst the neon lights and long shadows, dark threats continue to lurk in Sin City. Maxine Roby leads her brilliant team of Crime Scene Investigators—Joshua Folsom, Allie Rajan, Detective Serena Chavez, Chris Park, and Beau Finado—as they use science to solve baffling cases. Catherine Willows returns to help the CSIs face off with a dealer of death who is planning to beat the odds in Las Vegas. This combined force will deploy the latest forensic techniques to do what they do best—follow the evidence—in order to preserve and serve justice in Sin City."

In episode one, the CSIs investigate the murder of a dominatrix found near her secret sex dungeon.

Why did Marg Helgenberger want to return to CSI?

“When I left midway through season 12 of the original series, I needed to step back because I played the role for so long and she became such a part of my life and I felt like she become a part of my identity a little bit,” Helgenberger said at the CBS TCA junket for the show.

“So having that perspective of being away from her and then coming back in a big way as this, I did miss her actually. I missed her passion, I missed her swagger, I missed her spunk. And, yes, it's now 22 years since the launch of the show, so, as in life, I'm just like, ‘who is this person and how do I keep improving myself, and how can I make the world a better place,’ and all those things that we humans want to do with our lives.”

Are there any season 2 spoilers for CSI: Vegas?

Here is what Tracey revealed at the TCA junket:

“My favorite thing as a fan of the old show was always the case of the week and last year we played with a big, long, serialized arc and pulled everything together, but we did have those murder mysteries week to week and this year it's probably even more front and center. We're back a little closer to the original design that [creator] Anthony Zuicker came up with years ago.

“It worked out we start things off with a dominatrix. We go to a haunted house. We're with university lab scientists. We do an arson. We're at a Michelin star restaurant. We touch on the art world. We're into an influencer house with Tik Tokers. We've got a story in the works about the world of competitive eating.

“One of the things we all love about Las Vegas is that there's just a ton of crazy subcultures and we dropped murders into all of them, so it's fun and it's a challenge for the crew. They always surprise and delight with what they're able to pull off in eight days, you know, capture these little snapshots of American crime that are happening in Clark County.”

How many episodes of CSI: Vegas will there be?

CSI: Vegas season 2 will run 10 episodes.

Related: Paula Newsome Is Breaking Rules to Solve the CSI: Vegas Case That Could Destroy the Las Vegas Crime Lab!

How to watch and stream CSI: Vegas on TV and online

CSI: Vegas will air on CBS and then move next day to Paramount+ to stream.

Where can I watch the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation?

The entire original series (all 15 seasons!) is available on Hulu and seasons 1, 2 and 15 are on Paramount+.

IS CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Netflix?

Nope. If you want to stream the original CSI, you'll need Hulu or Paramount+.

Is there a trailer for CSI: Vegas season 2?

Watch! The trailer for CSI: Vegas season 2 features a killer who is on the hunt, but it isn’t clear if it is the serial killer that was introduced in the final episode of season 1.

“That's definitely something that's going to play out and it involves a lot of our season, but we're not starting there,” said showrunner Jason Tracey. “Good things come to those who wait, and it will sort of metastasize as the season goes along and we'll dig deeper a little bit later in, but first we've got the business of bringing back Catherine Willows. There's little mini arcs, and we're going to get there, but that's not where we start.”

Next, CSI: Vegas Showrunner Jason Tracey Wraps Up Season 1 and Teases What's Ahead for Season 2