CSI's great actor William Peterson says that he won't miss Gil Grissom - but fans of the show absolutely will. After 9 seasons, the veteran actor is walking away from the hit TV drama and a pile of cash - which he says is reason enough to let it go.
"The reason I'm leaving is because I'm afraid I'm becoming too comfortable," says Petersen. "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."
Grissom's final appearance on CSI will be in the episode scheduled to air this Thursday. Meanwhile, Petersen has moved back to Chicago where he's resumed a career in the theater.
Even though the part paid him a reported $600,000 per episode, he says he isn't sad to walk away. "I won't miss Grissom," says Petersen. "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."
Not a chance. For CSI fans, it just won't be the same without him.
