Trailer Released For Laurence Fishburne's CSI Debut

CBS has released a trailer promoting next week’s debut of Laurence Fishburne on TV’s highest-rated series, CSI.

As previously reported, Fishburne is replacing the exiting William Peterson, who plays Las Vegas Crime Lab supervisor Gil Grissom. Fishburne’s character, Dr. Raymond Langston, is a former pathologist who left his profession to write books and lecture.

Although Fishburne will be filling Petersen’s high-profile spot, Langston will not be the CSI team’s leader. He starts as a consultant to Grissom in a serial-killer investigation before becoming an entry-level criminalist.

“It’s going to be fun, because Langston does have a natural authority thanks to his previous career,” Fishburne tells USA Today. “But he won’t have that position or rank. So that’s going to create space for there to be some politics with everybody on the team.”

In Langston’s study of criminal and violent behavior, he sees possible connections to his own tendencies. Producers say he doesn’t have the DNA of a serial killer, as rumored.

In Thursday’s ninth episode (and in the clip below), Grissom attends an out of the ordinary college seminar in which Professor Langston has a two-way video feed conference with the infamous “Dick & Jane” serial killer. There, a classroom packed with students is allowed to ask the murderer questions directly.

Fishburne and Peterson also appear together in next week’s episode before Grissom makes his final appearance in January.