After 9 years, CSI’s William Petersen is getting ready to make his exit as Gil Grissom.
His departure was set into motion two years ago, when Petersen decided that things had become too easy and that he wanted to “challenge himself” as an actor by resuming his theater career in Chicago.
He says:
“It’s ‘CSI’ — they pay me a lot of money, and I don’t have to work very hard anymore. I’ve got it all figured out. And I just realized, God, as an artist, I’m going to atrophy. You do anything for nine years, it becomes somewhat rote. I didn’t want to be on the show because they were paying me money and I liked the money. I didn’t want to be on the show because it saved me from having to go look for other jobs. Just didn’t want it. It was too safe for me at this point. So I needed to try and break that, and the way to do that, for me, is the theater.”
Since the show’s beginning, Petersen has played a large role in its long-running success, starting with his character’s name change from Sheinbaum to the famous Grissom. He started out as the show’s producer as well and then in 2004 took on the additional role of executive producer, a move he believes helped maintain the balance between the actors and the suits.
Although Peteresen’s been with the show for 9 years and the show has benefited him immensely, he says he won’t miss it because “It was a complete life for me that’s reached its end, and it’s reached it in the right way, I think. So I won’t miss Grissom. And I hope that the audience won’t miss him either.”
With kickass Laurence Fishburne filling in we don’t think the break up will be so bad!
[Image via WENN.]
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