The hugely popular series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation will be back on TV screens this fall. In honor of the show’s 20th anniversary, CBS is currently developing a limited series revival to air during the 2020-21 broadcast season.
For the limited series, CBS may be bringing back the show’s original creative team, including series creator Anthony Zuiker and Jerry Bruckheimer, although deals with the creatives are still being discussed. The script will be written by Jason Tracey of Elementary, who was specifically chosen for the writer position by Bruckheimer. As for actors, The Hollywood Reporter speculates that William Petersen may be reprising his role as Gil Grissom, though nothing has been confirmed.
CSI initially premiered on CBS on October 6th, 2000, and will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. The show ran for a total of 15 seasons with a two-hour season finale in 2015, and was awarded the title of “Most Watched Show on Television” 2 times. The series was especially profitable for CBS, and a revival of the show could bring about new interest among viewers in streaming the original series. This is especially good news for CBS, which, after recently merging with Viacom to form ViacomCBS, is currently developing their streaming platform CBS All Access.
The CSI revival is also good news for creator Anthony Zuiker, who had hoped in 2015 that the show would be able to continue for few more seasons. The new limited series of CSI will reportedly take place in Las Vegas, though there is no word yet whether the series will follow the same characters. There has also been a recent trend within the streaming industry of networks making multi-million dollar deals with creators, the most recent being Dick Wolf’s nine-figure deal with NBC’s Peacock). Whether Zuiker or Bruckheimer will secure an exclusive deal with CBS remains to be seen.