CSI: Vegas' Paula Newsome Reveals Her Largest Responsibility in Being Part of the Major Franchise

Paula Newsome has had a long career in theater, film, and television but recently found a scene-stealing TV role as Barry's Det. Janice Morris, the probably ill-fated paramour of Henry Winkler's Gene Cousineau. Now, Newsome is playing a different type of detective having landed the lead position as crime scene investigator Maxine Roby on CBS's CSIrevival, CSI: Vegas. Newsome made her debut appearance at a convention alongside members of the CSI: Vegas cast and creative team at Los Angeles Comic Con last weekend where she was enthusiastically received by the fans.

"It's an interesting experience, but I was in the theater for a long, long, long time, so being in live places with people is really easy," chuckled Newsome after the panel. "But I will tell you: don't blink, because you may miss something!" Newsome joined TV Guide backstage at L.A. Comic Con ahead of the tenth and final episode of the inaugural season to reflect on her CSI experience – including being the first Black female lead on one of the 21-year-old franchise's entries. 

Like all of us in many ways, you guys have been slightly in a bubble since the show debuted, observing from afar the fan reaction to the show. What's it like for you to truly connect and get a sense of how they feel about it?
Paula Newsome: It's kind of neat, because what I discovered looking out there is...I think maybe it's in the unique experience of an actor: a feeling people lean into you like an arrow, a smooth arrow. That's what I felt. That means a lot. It's amazing how people feel so strongly about this show, how they just keep it close to their hearts, so it's nice.

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What's been the educational lesson about stepping into this franchise, that has such history and such a passionate following?
Newsome: The largest part for me is the responsibility that I hold of being one of the lead actors in this – not the stuff that happens between "Action" and "Cut." [That] is really easy for me. I've been doing that all my life. What's more new and nuanced and has a larger breadth of responsibility is what happens around "Cut" and "Action." For me, it's really important, the culture of shows, making sure that people feel welcome and making sure that, the kindness of a family. The word family is very important to me, and leaning into that. That's a new responsibility, but one that I take on gratefully.

Since joining the show, have you gotten a new appreciation for elements of the city of Las Vegas, or even fallen in love with?
Newsome: I will tell you this: the first time I was there, there was this woman who was standing in a circle with a phone to her ear in pasties and a thong. And that was surprising for me! [Laughs]

What was ultimately satisfying for you as an actress to take on the role of Maxine and see it through for 10 episodes?
Newsome: Let me tell you, a director a long time ago told me that as an actor, when you go on film or you go on stage or you go on camera, you get something free: some people get the humor, some people get sensitivity. I get strength. For a very long, my career, there have been so many places where people have been "That's too much. We don't want that – that's too much". Because "culture", I'll say in quotes, wasn't as comfortable with a really strong black woman in the spaces I inhabited. In this space, Jason, Tracy, CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer, are like, "We want all of that. We want the humor. We want the strength. We want the badassery. We want it all!" And that is such a dream come true.

Tell me about that: being the lead and being a person of color at this moment in time, on this beloved, established franchise. What's it meant you, and what's the sense that you've gotten that it's meant to the viewers?
Newsome: Yeah. I think about my niece all the time. I think about my family, and how important it is for me to represent a family that is familiar to the people that are around me. And Jason Tracey is so willing to shift things, to make it more accessible to what I know and to what we know about African American families today. I'm going to tell you the truth: I think sometimes it's different for different people, but what I know about Maxine is that she's really likable. I think the people who are more used to seeing people who live differently than me in this role, I think Maxine can bring them along.

What's the most shocking fact about real life crime scenes that you've learned as a result of this role?
Newsome: What's actually really hard for me, the challenging part, is to realize what people will do to one another. I have a dear friend of mine who's robbery and homicide, very high up in the LAPD. The stuff that she's told me that people do to one another and we get to express some of that on our show. That's kind of shocking. Because people who do a job like Maxine get to meet the loved ones of that deceased person on the worst day of their life.

Our Technical Advisor, Daniel Holstein, he's actually the inspiration for Grissom. He's the real-life Grissom, and he talks about how people [in CSI] pretty much tap out at 10 years. Can you imagine seeing that stuff that nervous systems and brains aren't meant to experience and absorb?

Do you know yet if you're going to be back doing more "CSI: Vegas?"
Newsome: We don't. Nobody's gotten a call yet. We've gotten a lot of inferences – but I can't pay my mortgage on no damn inference! So I'll say that we don't know.

CSI: Vegas is now streaming on Paramount+ Watch here