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Could the case be closed on this investigator? With him in jail following the murder of his mother’s killer, viewers can’t help but wonder if Josh Folsom is leaving CSI: Vegas and what could happen to Matt Lauria’s character in Season 3. The days of this crime-scene expert could be numbered.
CSI: Vegas is the fifth series in CBS’ CSI franchise, which started in 2000 with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and continued with CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: Cyber. Like its predecessors, CSI: Vegas — which premiered in 2021 — follows a team of crime-scene investigators employed by the Las Vegas Police Department as they use physical evidence to solve murders.
Matt Lauria plays Joshua “Josh” Folsom, an original character since Season 1 of CSI: Vegas and a CSI Level III who is often the lead investigator on cases. Josh is in a relationship with Serena Chavez, a homicide detective who joins in Season 2.
After two seasons as one of the male leads of CSI: Vegas, the series ended its second season with a cliffhanger that saw Josh arrested for murder and possibly done with his CSI career as a whole. The cliffhanger begged the question: Is Josh Folsom leaving CSI: Vegas? Anything is possible on CSI. Read on for what we know about whether Josh Folsom is leaving CSI: Vegas and what happened with Matt Lauria’s character.
Is Josh Folsom leaving CSI: Vegas?
Is Josh Folsom leaving CSI: Vegas? The CSI: Vegas Season 2 finale, “Dead Memories,” ended with a cliffhanger as Detective Serena Chavez was forced to arrest her boyfriend and co-worker, Josh, on the suspicion of murder, which led viewers to wonder if CSI: Vegas was writing Josh out of the show.
The episode started with Josh learning that his mother, Jeanette, was using heroin again and that she was involved in drug dealing. During “Dying Words,” Josh watched his mother meet a dealer named Jared Ott with a new stash, as he decided not to intervene. As he followed Jeanette, Josh watched as his mother was taken to a warehouse where another drug dealer had been strangled. While in the warehouse, Jeanette was also stabbed to death.
Because of the relation between him and Jeanette, was taken off the case, though he teamed up with his childhood friend, Trey, to secretly investigate his mother’s murder on the down low. Trey tracked down a middleman named Kahn Scheffer, who convinced Josh and Trey that he was innocent. But as they were getting ready to let him go, Josh saw marks on his arm that proved he was his mother’s murderer, which led Josh to attack Kahn himself. Kahn’s body was later discovered by the CSI’s Allie Rajan and Beau Finado, which led Serena to have no other choice than to arrest Josh for murder. It’s important to note that, while Josh attacked Kahn, CSI: Vegas didn’t actually show him killing him.
So is Josh Folsom leaving CSI: Vegas? The answer is no — at least not yet. Matt Lauria, who plays Josh Folsom in CSI: Vegas, returned in Season 3, which saw him in jail for Kahn’s murder. Lauria also confirmed to CBR in May 2023 that he would be back for CSI: Vegas Season 3. “I’ve been assured by the writers that I will be back [for Season 3],” he said.
In another interview with TV Insider at the time of the CSI: Vegas Season 2 finale, Laura explained that Kahn’s death was left purposely ambiguous. “I think it was deliberately penned with that ambiguity infused in there. I’m eager to learn what people surmise about all of that,” he said. “I had to pull Jason Tracy, our amazing showrunner and who directed that episode, aside, and we had to have some whispered conversations about what we thought was going on there. But yeah, it’s definitely open to interpretation.”
He continued, “I can say this: I’m in shock. Whatever event has happened, it is deeply disturbing. Also there has been a sort of adrenalized mission over the last 48, 72 hours, and so it’s a dump. You find me at the beginning, at that site before I even know that my mom has passed away, looking for something, looking for something that maybe was substantive from my past, something that was comforting, something that is familiar, and then finding myself back there again at the end with that sort of adrenaline dump.”
Lauria went on to tell TV Insider about how he understands Josh’s motivation if he was the one who killed Kahn. “One of the more interesting facets of who Josh is is there’s everything that I’ve ever been and raised to be and all the great influences around me as a child that have made me into a certain thing,” he said. “And then it’s the departure from almost all of those things and the aspiration to change and to become something distinctly different than that. My whole life is this measured approach, self-mastery, and choosing an entirely different path from what was probably laid out for me or very likely I would walk down. I think that that measured part and that self-mastery part of Josh is the one who devised the blood gimmick, but then something breaks and something snaps. You’re suddenly looking in the face of your mother’s murderer. So yeah, I think anything is possible.”
He contniued, “I think at the end when I accept the handcuffs, I know there’s no use in fighting it. It’s the only way it can be. And so regardless of what may have transpired, it’s an inevitability. But yeah, I definitely think absolutely, no question. I could have done it.”
In another interview with TV Insider at the time of CSI: Vegas’ Season 3 premiere, Lauria seemed to lean more towards Josh being Kahn’s killer. “I definitely think absolutely, no question, [Josh] could have done it,” Lauria told TV Insider about whether Josh killed Kahn. “[The] measured part and [the] self-mastery part of Josh is the one who devised the blood gimmick [making Kahn think he was bleeding out], but then something breaks and something snaps. You’re suddenly looking in the face of your mother’s murderer.”
CSI: Vegas is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
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