Jorja Fox, who plays Sara Sidle on CSI, will return on the premiere of the hit CBS show, the first of a reportedly three-episode story arc.  In the promo, she is seen hugging Grisson (W.lliam Petersen) obviously disheartened at what happened to Warrick (Gary Dourdan).  Her leaving CSI last season seemed to have opened the floodgates of changes that now hound the show as it returns for its ninth season in October.

If we remember, Fox left in last season's episode called “Goodbye and Good Luck,” suffering from what looked like psychological burnout.  Sara just snapped after a particularly difficult case.  She left without saying goodbye to her fellow investigators especially Grissom, save for a note saying something about confronting about the ghosts of her past, something that she couldn't do in Vegas.  Recently, the CSI producers and Fox herself revealed the inspiration behind this farewell episode.

"We were sitting and talking to Billy (Petersen) and Jorja about it, and Jorja told this story about a friend of hers who had been in a relationship with a guy and she had just left him a note and said, 'I can't deal with it anymore. I have to leave,'" executive producer Naren Shankar said.  “It felt like that would be the way that she would let it go, and it really turned out beautifully, I thought.”

As they put it, grace was the focus of the team in formulating a decent exit for Fox.  "We wanted her exit to be dignified and appropriate and satisfying both for the actress, for the character, and always for the fans, and I think we accomplished that," executive producer Carol Mendelsohn added.  "And it was really sad."

According to Fox, her character's relationship with Grissom was her favorite part of the show, although the writers were not really too keen on the matter.  "For a show that's not really about romance at all … (it was) something that was extraordinarily sort of exciting and amazing to get to play,” she said.


-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CSI Files UK
(Image Courtesy of CBS)