"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" has solved the mystery of who will replace departing CBS series star William Petersen: It's Laurence Fishburne.
Fishburne, an Emmy and Tony winner, will be introduced in the ninth installment of the upcoming tenth season, the network told The Associated Press on Monday. He'll play a forensics scientist with a secret.
Fishburne is a "CSI" newcomer in more shipway than peerless. Asked if he's a fan, he told a teleconference Monday that he was humiliated to admit he'd ne'er watched ahead he was approached by producers.
"But I am at present," he aforementioned. He screened past episodes that were engaging and "kind of dark and moody, like the work I've been involved in," he said.
"Wow, this will work," Fishburne recalled thinking.
He was their top alternative, said executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar, with a deeply intelligent approach to his mould that matches the drama's spirit.
This is the number one ongoing series role for the coveted film and stage role player since, unbelievably enough, he played Cowboy Curtis on "Pee-wee's Playhouse" in the late eighties. He's not stepping away from movies with "CSI," Fishburne aforementioned, but embarking on a "welcome change."
Fishburne will play a college lecturer and former pathologist who is focused on why the great unwashed commit acts of the Apostles of violence. The grapheme is unnamed for now but has been dubbed "The Professor."
The air date for Petersen's final episode has in time to be determined merely will be early side by side year. Petersen has been with the series since it debuted in fall 2000 and will stay a "CSI" executive manufacturer, the mesh said.
Fishburne's character has a deep connection to his work: "The Professor" shares certain biologic characteristics associated with aggressiveness and criminal behavior, Shankar said.
Shankar aforesaid the show wasn't backing away from CBS programming chief Nina Tassler's former description of the role, in which she aforesaid he divided the genetic makeup of serial killers.
Subsequent research has since shown that "in reality, in that respect is no such thing," so the character is changing class, Shankar aforementioned. How his nature testament play out in stories has until now to be determined, he and Mendelsohn said.
Fishburne's character, whom Tassler said was keeping his background to himself, meets members of the "CSI" team during a remove investigation and ends up joining them.
Fishburne, 47, received an Oscar nomination for his depicting of Ike Turner in 1993's "What's Love Got to Do With It" and a Tony in 1992 for "Two Trains Running." He was a Tony campaigner this year for the one-man show, "Thurgood," around Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
His celluloid credits include the "Matrix" sci-fi films, in which he played Morpheus; "Apocalypse Now"; "The Color Purple"; "Mystic River"; "21"; "Akeelah and the Bee"; and "Biker Boyz." He as well is a writer and director.
"CBS asked us, `Who's at the top of your dream list?'" Mendelsohn and Shankar said in a joint statement. "Without vacillation, we aforementioned Laurence Fishburne. He is a brawny and acute actor, with an unbelievable range."
Fishburne earned an Emmy for the 1993 premiere episode of Fox's "Tribeca" and another for the movie "Miss Evers' Boys," which marked rare TV projects for the doer. Early in his life history, he appeared in shows including "Miami Vice" and "Hill Street Blues."
The long-running "CSI" remains key for CBS: It finished utmost season as the network's top-rated series, ranking No. 9 among all shows with an average weekly audience of 17 million. Spinoffs "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York" stratified 16th and 28th, respectively.
Producers have been mum about upcoming plot points. But they aforesaid Petersen's role, Gil Grissom, will be reappraising his life after years of high-tech forensics investigations with the Las Vegas Police Department and after facing personal turmoil.
"CSI," which begins its new season Oct. 9, is ready to deal with Petersen's loss, said Shankar.
"What makes shows go off the rails is they forget world Health Organization they ar. We're a crime-mystery-forensics drama" and that won't change, Shankar aforesaid in July.
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