By MICHAEL STARR and DON KAPLAN
Last updated: 12:17 pm
August 19, 2008
Posted: 3:06 am
August 19, 2008
LAURENCE Fishburne's long-rumored journey to "CSI" is a done deal.
CBS ended weeks of speculation yesterday by announcing it's hired Fishburne to replace William Petersen on the veteran procedural crime drama.
The news broke the day after the closing of Fishburne's one-man Broadway show, "Thurgood."
"CSI" marks Fishburne's first prime-time TV gig after a successful big-screen career including starring turns in "Boyz n the Hood," "The Matrix" and "What's Love got to Do With It" - which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Fishburne's last regular TV job was in the 1980s as a character on "Pee Wee's Playhouse."
His new "CSI" character doesn't yet have a name - but is said to carry a disturbing secret which enhances his work investigating brutal murders.
"It's very difficult for me to describe him since I don't have much to go on," Fishburne told reporters yesterday.
"We know he was a pathologist, and he was kind of [pushed] out of that area; he became a lecturer and something in his background makes him a perfect candidate to become a CSI."
"CSI" executive producer Naren Shankar said that, on the advice of the show's technical advisors, Fishburne's character would not have "the DNA of a serial killer," as was originally reported.
Fishburne is expected to begin filming his new role in mid-September. His character will be introduced during a two-episode arc spanning the season's ninth and 10th episodes and will overlap with Petersen's Gil Grissom.
Petersen, who's played CSI chief Grissom since the show's 2000 premiere, will then leave the show - but is expected to return from time to time (he's one of the show's executive producers).
John Malkovich was reportedly also in the running for the Fishburne role.
"CSI," entering its ninth season, remains one of TV's top-rated dramas and has spawned two spinoffs, "CSI: NY" and "CSI: Miami."
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