Well, crap. The fine folks that run the CSI franchise series of shows are finally bringing back Gil Grissom. William Petersen, who has only appeared on the show in absentee form for several seasons now, will reprise his role as the former leader of the original CSI team in Las Vegas.

The bad news is that this won’t happen until a feature-length movie that closes out the series’ 15-year run.

This announcement comes at a time when television networks are dropping tons of dead weight, giving the axe to shows that some thought were going to be around forever. Even American Idol is being shown the door.

When the announcement came down that CSI was headed out to pasture, the buzz was all about whether or not William Petersen would never end up showing his face again. If they wanted to rescue the show, all they would have to do is bring Gil back. But William Petersen has not been interested in returning to the show full time.

Oh, and they’re having Marg Helgenberger drop back in too.

But didn’t hey just do a new spin-off, CSI: Cyber, with Patricia Arquette? Yep. And Ted Danson is moving over to that show.

Maybe, just maybe, they show William Petersen on a roller coaster in the finale. Maybe he’ll get to visit his favorite dominatrix again. Maybe he’ll do more of that gross talk about bugs and pig cadavers.

Maybe we should just go back and binge watch the first few seasons. But, hey. They had a 15-year run.

The two-hour TV movie finale will air on Sept. 27.

It's official: #CSI to officially end next season with movie, William Petersen to return: http://t.co/6Lu0XvSpRv pic.twitter.com/me9DTamhtq

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) May 13, 2015