Former CSI star William Petersen is returning to television with a series regular role on the second season of the WGN America drama series Manhattan.

Created and written by Sam Shaw and directed by Thomas Schlamme, Manhattan is set against the backdrop of the mission to build the world’s first atomic bomb and follows the brilliant but flawed scientists and their families in Los Alamos. Petersen will play Col. Emmett Darrow, the enigmatic new ranking military officer at Los Alamos. A deeply religious and patriotic man, Darrow feels called by God to usher in the atomic future and to spread American values across the globe.

Produced by Lionsgate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios, Manhattan will begin production on its second season in April in New Mexico for a 2015 debut on WGN America.

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This marks Petersen’s first TV role since leaving the mothership CSI series in 2009 after 10 seasons. He joins returning Manhattan cast members John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Daniel Stern, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Katja Herbers, Alexia Fast, Christopher Denham, Harry Lloyd and Michael Chernus.

The caliber of talent on WGNA series has been rising, with Christopher Meloni and Jurnee Smollett-Bell among the stars of the network’s upcoming Underground Railroad drama Underground, with Kanye West expected to be involved in music.