Two CSI Roles You Probably Forgot Blake Lively's Co-Star Justin Baldoni Played Before It Ends With Us
It Ends with Us thrust Justin Baldoni into the harshest spotlight, but he’s been in your living room for years — not just as the film’s star and director, but with early turns across the ever-loved CSI franchise.
If Justin Baldoni has been all over your timeline lately because of It Ends with Us and everything that followed, fair. But he has actually been popping up on TV for years — including a pair of blink-and-you-missed-it stints on the CSI franchise.
Wait, Justin Baldoni was on CSI? Twice.
Yep. Before Jane the Virgin and long before directing and starring in It Ends with Us, Baldoni did two guest turns in the CSI universe, and they are deep cuts:
- CSI: Miami (2007) — Season 5 episode 'Cyber Liberty': Baldoni played Damon Argento. He was just 23, which is probably why you might not clock him at first. He gets some pretty tense moments here, Glock in hand, facing down some legitimately nasty characters.
- CSI: NY (2010) — Season 7 episode 5, 'Out of the Sky': He shows up as Heath Kirkfield. This was around the same time he was on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Is CSI actually coming back?
CSI: Vegas was the most recent entry in the franchise and it has wrapped. For the first time in a long time, there is no CSI show currently running — no new main series, no spinoff.
Series creator Anthony Zuiker talked about the future in an October interview with TV Insider, and he did not exactly sound bullish about a revival without him:
It’s a tricky question. I’ll try to answer it. I don’t think another CSI will be born unless I’m involved in it. I don’t think you can hire people to do this show at this level in this generation.
One wrinkle: the brand isn’t completely dormant. The Real CSI: Miami dropped recently — it is a true-crime documentary take, not scripted. Reading between the lines, maybe there’s room for new forensic cases in a new city someday — Chicago, somewhere out west — but nothing is official.
Quick franchise refresher: the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation launched in October 2000 and ran 15 seasons. CSI: NY followed (2004 to 2013, nine seasons), then CSI: Cyber (2014 to 2016, two seasons), and years later CSI: Vegas arrived in 2021.
If you want a nostalgia dive, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is streaming on Hulu.
Where Baldoni’s situation stands now
After It Ends with Us hit theaters, Baldoni found himself in the middle of legal turbulence with allegations and counter-claims involving co-star Blake Lively. The matter is ongoing, and details have been surfacing through filings and media coverage.
According to Variety, Rainn Wilson has voiced support for Baldoni in private messages that Baldoni’s legal team submitted as evidence. In one of those texts, Wilson wrote: 'You were set up and ambushed and personally attacked. I’m stunned.'
Meanwhile, celebrity outlet Page Six reported that Lively and Ryan Reynolds have moved to Wrexham amid the legal back-and-forth — notable, though they already have deep ties there through Wrexham AFC.