Fans may have to say goodbye to the CSI franchise once again. As CBS continues making decisions on the 2024-25 season, Deadline reports that CSI: Vegas is in “grave danger” of cancellation. The latest CSI series is the lowest-rated drama on the network in total viewers, alongside sophomore series So Help Me Todd. Since CSI is part of a franchise with a long history on CBS from CBS and CBS Studios, it does help a little bit. However, budgets are still tight, putting Vegas “heavily on the bubble.”
CSI vets Jorja Fox and William Petersen starred in the first season alongside Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mandeep Dhillon, and Mel Rodriguez, which premiered in October 2021. While Newsome, Lauria, and Dhillon returned for Season 2, Fox, Petersen, and Rodriguez bowed out but were replaced with Ariana Guerra, Jay Lee, Lex Medlin, and fellow CSI vet Marg Helgenberer. The third season premiered in February, moving to Sundays, but ratings have been doing pretty well.
TVLine reported in early March that CSI: Vegas hit an audience high of 4.3 million viewers. With the series continuing to bring in big viewers, that could also help. As of now, though, it sounds like CBS is leaning in either direction, and there’s no telling what will happen. With numerous shows already renewed for next season on top of the new shows coming, there’s only so much room on the schedule and only a few more shows left waiting their fates.
Meanwhile, Season 3 is halfway done, with the finale airing on May 19, and it’s going to be an intense. In the finale, “Tunnel Vision,” after an explosion in a bio lab, the team races to determine which nerve agent left one of their unconscious, while the others explore a dangerous underground tunnel to find another CSI who got kidnapped during the blast. It’s hard to tell if the episode will end on a cliffhanger, but if it does, hopefully, there’s a renewal that comes along with it. Either way, it’s going to be one finale you won’t want to miss.
CBS should be making more decisions on their remaining shows very soon, but in the meantime, fans will just have to patiently wait. New episodes of CSI: Vegas air on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, with the Season 3 finale airing on Sunday, May 19.