On June 7, 2011, Fishburne announced that he was leaving C.S.I. to return to movies and theatre, opting not to renew his contract and would not appear in Season 12.
In July 2011, it was announced that Danson would become a series regular on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He will play a new graveyard shift supervisor who previously headed a crime lab in Portland, Oregon. Tony Shaloub, Robin Williams and John Lithgow were also considered for the role.[
