In case you haven't heard- Liev Schreiber joins Cast in January!

[thekay]

E!online article

Apparently, actor Liev Schreiber is joining the CSI LV cast as a veteran detective for a string of episodes starting in January 2007 as William Petersen takes a "break" from CSI.

They claim our beloved Grissom will return after the break, but no news as to whether Liev's soon-to-be-named (?) character will be a recurring one, or not.

Anyways, this does confirm the rumours that the CSI shifts/management ranks will be mangled again [I expect Ecklie involved], as Grissom can't go away to a conference that lasts that long.

Speculate or spread your paranoia...

[Poseidon]

Kay,
What you forget to mention is the reason behind William Petersen's "break"!

[thekay]

The reason(s) behind Petersen's so called break is disputed; some say he wants a break because he is getting tired of CSI, some say he wants to make a movie, some say he's having diva issues, some say its for the storyline, some say its part of his previously negotiated contract and salary issues, some say he's getting married, blah blah blah, nd some say he needs rehab time.... CBS has not officially explained his break time fully either as far as I know. I was just reporting that they have found a star to take our minds off of Gil's absense [they hope].

[Poseidon]

Kay,
What I recall as being William Petersen's reason is that he's coming east to Providence , Rhode Island to star in the Trinity Repertory Company's stage production of Connor McPherson's "A Dublin Carol". He will be on hiatus from the first of December of this year to the seventh of January of 2007.

[thekay]

I have heard that reason before [not the play specifically, but that he wanted to do some stage acting for a change]. Others say it is to get viewers a chance to see another central star [the producers are hoping Schreiber] on CSI as Petersen's current contract ends this year. While Petersen has said that he wants to stay on CSI as long as they want him to, he also hasn't started to talk about signing a contract extension as of yet. This is why some people are saying that him signing on to do the play so "conveniently" during the middle of the season when he could have done a play or something else during the CSI hiatuses, sounds fishy.

[Poseidon]

Kay,
How can you account for the whimsy of fate?

[thekay]

You can't- it's fate

Anyways, this thread was about Liev joining the show, not what Petersen is up to or feeling at the moment. Are there any thoughts about having him join the cast? [for at least 4 episodes- if all goes well and they don't kill him off, he could become a recurring character]

[Poseidon]

My thoughts are that he can't replace Grissom. He might as well give up in advance.

[Dangerzone]

i saw his premere last night...................good actor, but sadly i think i can already see where this is going

they are going to make keppler out to be a bad guy and it is going to split the team down the middle as to who trusts him and who does not...............then grissom will get back and break up the feud and get the team back to normal

and it also suck that we will not see the case dealing with the new minature crime scene untill grissom gets back.................. in the episode "Monster in a box"

[Poseidon]

DZ,
Are you prescient? Because that is exactly what he is going to happen. Keppler will recuit Cath into his reverse forensics scheme which will divide the group.