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At the end of our interview about her new show, CSI: Vegas, actor Paula Newsome let out a whoop of joy when the publicist interrupted to say the series had just been renewed for a second season.

Her excitement is understandable. The Barry and How To Get Away With Murder actor is loving her latest role as Maxine Max Roby, the head of the crime lab once overseen by the original CSIs Gil Grissom.

Newsome who also appears in the Marvel movie Spider-Man: No Way Home still cant believe how she came to be starring in the sequel to one of this centurys most popular crime dramas.

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Paula Newsome plays Maxine Roby in CSI: Vegas.

It was a lovely surprise. I had no idea it was in the works, she says, adding she didnt even have to audition. I was going to pilates when I got a text from one agent and a call from another one. When they double team you like that, you know somethings up. Then they told me I would be getting an offer. A straight offer like that is fabulous.

Newsome says she must have been living under a rock because she had never seen the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

After doing a lot of research and just getting to know the characters and the actors, its amazing. I feel very grateful very grateful and very responsible, she says of being chosen to spearhead the popular series sequel. I was nervous. Its a new approach to an old series that people loved a lot.

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Keen to learn as much as she could about the science, she turned to legendary Los Angeles criminologist Liz Devine for a crash course in crime scene investigation.

Devine shared everything from the tools of the trade she keeps in the boot of her car to how long she expects to spend at a scene.

After we had gotten together about three or four times, I said, Come to my house. I want you to treat my home like a crime scene, Newsome says. We decided that the body was in the middle of the living room.

The pair went on to process the scene as if a real murder had taken place.

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Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox, right) has returned to help Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome) in CSI: Vegas.

The original series turned William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger and Jorja Fox and their screen alter egos Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle into household names around the world.

It bowed out in 2015 after15 seasons, having launched a US$1 billion franchise that included spin-offs CSI: Miami, CSI: New York and CSI: Cyber.

Now comes the sequel, CSI: Vegas, which made its US debut on October 6, the 21st anniversary of the debut of the original series.

Newsome isnt the only new face in the lab which features technology many real-life forensic scientists can only dream about. Her team is rounded out by newcomers Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) and After Lifes Mandeep Dhillon as investigators Josh Folsom and Allie Rajan and Mel Rodriguez (Better Call Saul) as quirky chief medical examiner Dr Hugo Ramirez.

Episode one begins with the now visually impaired former Detective Jim Brass (Wallace Langham) killing an intruder in his home. Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) last seen heading off into the sunset with Grissom returns to help her old friend and workmate through the subsequent investigation.

When the investigation implicates former CSI officer David Hodges (Paul Guilfoyle) as being crooked, Grissom also rides to the rescue.

Newsome might be the shows lead but she was initially apprehensive about working with Petersen who has been the face of the show for years.

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Max is kind of this amazing amalgam of a bunch of people, says Paula Newsome.

Im a woman whos very comfortable in what I do but, with him in the beginning, it was hard.

I was nervous and then, finally, I got to the point I was like, Eff this. Its too hard doing this nervous. Theyre going to have to deal with me as I come.

Gil Grissom and Max Roby are very different animals. She is a scientist but also a mum to an almost grown-up son.

Newsome says Max shares traits with some of her past characters.

Janice Moss in Barry is a little tightly wound but shes as keen as Max.

Doctors that Ive played have been a little softer around the edges, she says, but Max is kind of this amazing amalgam of a bunch of people.

Firstly, shes very smart, secondly, shes very empathetic and, thirdly, shes not to be effed with.

CSI:Vegas, TVNZ 2, Tuesday, February 15

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Another spin of the wheel for the CSI franchise with Vegas-based show - Stuff.co.nz