CSI: NY narrowly escaped cancellation last year after receiving an eleventh hour reprieve. The series was renewed shortly before CBS announced its 2011-2012 lineup at May’s upfront presentation when the network shared what shows to expect in the fall. With only eighteen episodes this season, producers are deciding yet again how to write a season finale that could also serve as a final episode.

The biggest challenge for the show is finding a way to top last year’s finale, “Exit Strategy.” Producers received positive feedback from both the show’s crew and fans, noting the episode–which found Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) contemplating a huge change in his life–was satisfying as both an end of the season closer and a series finale. Now, with less than a month to go until production on the season–and potentially series–wraps, writers are figuring out what to do–including possibly bringing back past characters.

“It’s hard to commit to those things not knowing the future of the show,” co-showrunner Zachary Reiter tells CSI Files’ Shane Saunders. ”We have to sit down; we have yet to sort of create that last possible last show/possible cliff-hanger/possible last show before next season thing,” Pam Veasey shares. “We’ll see. We’ll consider everything.”

Discussing past storylines, Veasey marveled at the possibility of bringing Jacqueline Pinol back as Rikki Sandoval. “Anybody can come back.”

After concluding a three-episode arc shedding light on Jo Danville’s (Sela Ward) past, CSI: NY will soon begin another multi-episode storyline, this time for Gary Sinise‘s Mac Taylor.

“There’s an arc specifically related to Mac and a new old friend he reconnects with,” Co-Executive Producer Trey Callaway tells CSI Files. But does reconnecting with an old friend mean love is on the horizon for the head of the New York Crime Lab? “Some potential chemistry [is] involved there romantically,” Callaway teases.

Co-Showrunner Zachary Reiter, sitting next to his partner-in-crime Pam Veasey–taking a break from writing her snow-focused Episode 15–is able to share a bit more. ”Having started the season in “Indelible” with him feeling like he put a chapter of his life to bed to some extent and letting go, we were hoping at the back-end of the season we would pay that off with him being open to finding love,” the former state’s attorney reveals. “How quickly and how far that develops, we’ll see, but we certainly want to have that character walk off and feel like ‘I’m a bit of a different person now’ should this series end.”

Though her episode won’t air until February at the earliest, Veasey is able to provide some information on her time-traveling episode with CSI Files. “I’m always fascinated with history and cold cases, like the Black Dahlia case,” the NY vet says. “We create a case in New York City that has that kind of history and notoriety in our story.”

“[The script] is due Thursday, can you help me?” she asks with a laugh.

Well, Pam, that sounds like an offer we can’t turn down.

(For more on the second half of CSI: NY‘s eighth season, keep checking back with CSI Files as we bring you interviews with the show’s stars, producers, and more.)

New York was in danger of being cancelled after season seven, but Veasey and Reiter aren’t looking at season eight as the final year. “Not planning this as a final season – we never make that plan, we just plan to keep the audience riveted,” they explained on Twitter. “Excited by Friday night and our new lead in [A Gifted Man]. We never plan that way. Even if we find ourselves in same situation.”

At the end of season seven, Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) got a promotion, and that will spell changes for him and wife Lindsay (Anna Belknap). “Danny will be a sergeant when we return and it will mean things the audience will be surprised by,” the producers said. “Danny runs into a few conflicts in his promotion… after that, their relationship is working, Lucy is healthy, but job is a conflict. After that we’ll plan something else really juicy!”

Lindsay will also play “a big role in a 3 episode arc” regarding Jo Danville’s (Sela Ward) past in Washington, DC. In last season’s “Vigilante”, Jo mentioned the final case she worked in DC before she came to the Big Apple. A rapist got off due to mishandled evidence, and the case will resurface in New York.

Jo’s ex-husband Russ Josephson (David James Elliott) appeared in several episodes last season (most recently “Identity Crisis”), but Elliott’s casting on the new ABC series Good Christian Belles will prevent fans from seeing him on New York for the time being. “If that should fail, we’d welcome him back!” the producers explained. However, despite the fact that Jo’s ex-husband won’t be back to woo her, “many of our single cast members may get love interests.”

Don Flack’s (Eddie Cahill) sister Samantha (Kathleen Munroe, “Dead Inside”) will return this season. “We’re hoping to start something that will have Flack making an [important] decision [with] respect to his job by end of season,” they shared. Meanwhile, resident coroner Sid Hammerback (Robert Joy) has a ‘good moment’ coming up, Veasey and Reiter revealed: “[H]e becomes an inventor of a very interesting object!”

You can find all of Veasey and Reiter’s Tweets about New York’s season eight premiere, along with commentary on the season seven finale, “Exit Strategy”, on Twitter.

As CSI Files previously reported, Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) will be shown interacting with his wife Claire (Jaime Ray Newman) in flashbacks during “Indelible”, and fans will get a glimpse of what some of the other characters were doing on that day as well. However, not everyone will get the flashback treatment. “Lindsay [Messer, Anna Belknap] was in Montana so her point of view was all through the television,” executive producer Pam Veasey told E! Online. “Adam [Ross, AJ Buckley] was in New York. But you don’t see his flashback. We chose just a few people in different places.”

One of the flashbacks in the premiere will feature Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Don Flack (Eddie Cahill). According to About.com, this flashback will capture the moment these two met in front of the World Trade Center, and the events of 9/11 created a lifelong bond between them.

As CSI Files previously reported, New York’s season premiere honors the tenth anniversary of 9/11. “We wanted to make it not a memory show but a tribute show, but we wanted to reflect what people will be saying in September. Where was I?” Veasey told E! Online. “For example, Jo Danville (Sela Ward) wasn’t in New York City, but we will see her perspective. Jo was in Washington D.C. so her point of view was from the Pentagon and we have people who worked down on the street, [and] people were in buildings.”

In other news, Danny’s promotion to Sergeant gives him a new group of cops to work with, but E! says Danny may find that his new team isn’t as loyal as the CSIs. When Danny’s career is at risk, Lindsay is there to support him.

Source: E! Online. Thanks to Sarah from TalkCSI for the link.

Executive producer Pam Veasey told E! Online that Danny’s new role at work will make things more complicated at home. “They are like ships passing in the night,” she explained. “They have to deal with that and wonder what [the promotion] is worth and then Danny will make a decision about it.” When asked if Danny would return to the New York Crime Lab, Veasey added, “It’s awhile, it takes awhile. But they do have to talk about it.”

Central to the couple’s life and plans is their daughter Lucy. Veasey revealed that the little girl would appear during season eight, but the writers have no plans to make the character older (which is a familiar trick used by—but not limited to—soap operas). “[S]he won’t be 19 or anything,” Veasey said. “She’ll be her true age. We won’t advance her forward and be like. ‘[Speaks in adult voice] Hi, Mom.’”

Thanks to Shane and Perfect Anomaly from TalkCSI for the link.

Miami’s season ten premiere will answer viewers’ questions about the stalled romance between Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) and Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez). “Right away in the first episode, we open the door a little bit … and we see them step through,” co-executive producer Barry O’Brien told TV Guide. “They’re sort of re-examining where they’ve been and where they’re going together. They’ve had such a history together, and you see the power and depth of their feelings toward each other.”

As CSI Files previously reported, the marriage between Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Lindsay Messer (Anna Belknap) will face some adjustments in the wake of Danny’s promotion to Sergeant. He now works on the street with uniformed officers under his command, and one of those officers is a beautiful rookie named Officer Chambers. Officer Chambers makes some mistakes, and Danny loses his temper with her. But will there be any romantic tension between the married former CSI and the rookie? “There are no romantic sparks,” executive producer Pam Veasey promised TV Line. “But there are flares of a different kind.”

Sources: TV Guide and TV Line. Thanks to Shane and Sarah from TalkCSI for the links!