CBS is poised to step back into the world of CSI.
Months after a revival was first teased, more casting details have been revealed.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights, Kingdom), Paula Newsome (Chicago Med, Barry), and Mel Rodriguez (Last Man on Earth) have joined the cast of the revival.
Lauria is on board as Josh, a Level 3 CSI who excels at crime scene reconstruction, while Newsome is set to play Maxine, the new head of the Vegas Crime lab.
Rodriguez will play Hugo, the head medical examiner who has a slightly creepy obsession with dead bodies.
Casting is still very much underway, but franchise veterans William Petersen and Jorja Fox are said to have agreed to return for the event series.
CBS has not issued a formal pickup, but in this reboot-heavy world, a new iteration of CSI is hardly surprising.
The CSI franchise was a viable one for CBS for over a decade, beginning with CSI, before adding in CSI Miami, CSI NY, and CSI Cyber.
The series has also spawned videogames and lives on in other media, so it is a big brand that is recognized worldwide.
The franchise is said to be worth over $1 billion.
CSI Season 15 averaged 8.3 million total viewers and a 1.3 rating in the demo, but the two-hour series finale event managed 12.2 million viewers and a 1.8 rating. The Las Vegas-set original series was, at one time, the most-watched show in the world.
The original CSI concluded in September 2015 with a two-hour finale that brought back some of the franchise’s biggest stars.
CSI Season 15 averaged 8.3 million total viewers and a 1.3 rating in the demo, but the two-hour series finale event managed 12.2 million viewers and a 1.8 rating several months later.
The TV industry has changed a lot in the years that followed, with an increased focus on streaming.
ViacomCBS is rebranding Paramount+ next month, so it seems likely that the project could land there should CBS decline to pick it up.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.