Former "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star Marg Helgenberger is set to reprise her role as Catherine Willows.
According to TVLine, the actress will return to help celebrate the show's 300th episode. Willows will make her triumphant return to her old stomping grounds. After the team investigates the murder of a reclusive former casino mogul who was a suspect in a similar crime in 2000, Willows is brought back to help solve the cold case that has haunted the CSI gang for 14 years
"CSI" executive producer Don McGill told TVLine that "CSI's" 300th episode, airing Oct. 23, will center on a fictional cold case that leads to a series of recreated flashbacks, which will include Helgengerger.
"We will flash back 14 years to seminal moments that show Catherine, Nick (George Eads), Sara (Jorja Fox), Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Ecklie (Marc Vann) as they were, [and how that] informed the evolution of the characters now. It's going to be a really fun episode, very emotional, that honors 14 years of 'CSI."
Helgenberger tweeted excitedly about her return to the "CSI":
Very excited to see my pals @CSI_CBS for the 300th! @davidberman88 @ElisabethHarnoi @CSIWritersRoom pic.twitter.com/LhCgb2yyE6
— Marg Helgenberger (@MargHelgen) August 20, 2013
"We were just really excited to have Marg come back because, obviously, she's such an important part of the history of 'CSI' And she was super excited. It was kismet!" McGill told TVLine,
Helgenberger received both an Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the role in the show, before leaving midway through Season 12, to forcus on theater.
"I've been itching to get back on the stage, but it's been hard," Helgenberger said, according to E! News. "It's kind of hard to comprehend. It's been a fifth of my life. From the pilot on it's been touched with magic dust, so I've been very aware of how special it's been."
At the time of her "CSI" departure in January 2012, the Associated Press asked Helgenberger if she'd return for a special episode or two in the future.
"Absolutely," she told the AP. "In fact that was, one of the reasons why it was a little easier for me to leave the show because the producers said to me practically every day the door is wide open ... If I'm available and I'm up for it, you betcha ... You haven't seen the last of me."
"CSI" Season 14 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. on CBS.