Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) had a fairytale ending on CSI: Vegas. They’ve now returned for the new season of the show. Fox discussed how portraying a married TV character differs from playing a single role.

The iconic CBS program returns with a mix of the old and new, bringing back Grissom and Sara to the Crime Lab as former murder detective Jim Brass becomes embroiled in a controversy that threatens to derail decades of case work they’ve completed.

Fox discusses resurrecting her character for this new incarnation of “CSI” in a recent interview with Collider, six years after the original series finished its 15-season run.

Grissom meets Sara at his lecture in the first episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He offers her a position as a CSI in the LVPD Crime Lab, which she accepts.

At the end of the original program, Gil and Sara married and retired to start a new life. Fans will now be able to watch them as a married couple. According to the Chicago Tribune, Fox discussed this major shift.

“It was a storybook ending that I loved, so that’s where we left them,” Fox said. “And when we open up on the first episode of CSI: Vegas, Sarah has been called by an old friend who is in trouble and asked if she can come help out.” The actor then revealed Sara calls Grissom for his help in the end.

“We didn’t get to play the relationship that much on screen,” she added. “And in this rendition, we arrive as a married couple and that’s how we’re playing it, so that’s really fun.”

“There is a tremendous amount of anticipation. There would be under normal circumstances, but certainly we’ve been talking about this since 2019, and here we are in 2021,” Fox told ET on Tuesday over the phone. According to the actress, the revival was supposed to premiere on the 20th anniversary of the film last October 6. “I’m excited and I’m just hoping there’s an audience out there who’s going to want to watch.”

According to Fox, neither she nor the audience would have believed it if Sara had returned but Grissom had not.

“It was really key for me story-wise, in the sense that we had, for me, this amazing sort of happy ending,” she explained.

“We just sailed off into the sunset together. The characters were together. And for me, one of the big, big story arcs for my character was this love affair that played out over 15 years. So it would have been almost impossible for me to imagine returning without Gil Grissom. For Sara to come back without Gil Grissom, in a sense, would have meant that, once again something had happened to that relationship. That it had ended or fallen apart. And that would have been really tough. I think I’m really attached, Jorja’s really attached to the idea of Sara and Grissom, if they were going to return, to return together,” Fox continued.

Fox also discussed what happened in 2000 when she switched from The West Wing to the first season of CSI.

“I remember it all very well. I had been on Season 1 of The West Wing. I was the happiest actor in America. It was the coolest job, and working with the most incredible people’.

‘We had this big shootout at the end, of course, with the assassination [attempt] of President Bartlett. The audience was left wondering if anybody was going to survive. You didn’t know who was going to make it and who wasn’t. And I had heard about the show CSI — I had a couple of friends say, “Hey, have you read this pilot?” And I said, “No, no, no. I got this great job. I’m not looking for a job.”’

“And then my manager eventually called and said, “Maybe you should check out this CSI show. They’re adding a character.” And I was like, “No, no. I’m really not interested. I really love West Wing, and I’m going back.” And then finally somebody else pointed it out. So I was like, “All right.” I read it. And then once I read it, I was like, “Wow, shoot. Wow, I’ve got to, maybe, at least go try and go meet everybody, because this is a really amazing character in this very cool show.” And I really didn’t expect to get the job. When I drove to the screen test for CSI, I was in my car kind of hoping that I didn’t get it because I wanted to stay on West Wing. Then I got the job, and it turned out to be this incredible thing for me”.