Linda Hunt joins cast of "CSI: LA"

Oscar winner Linda Hunt will be a series regular on the CBS crime drama, "CSI: LA."

Her addition to the cast is meant to fill the hole left by the departure of Louise Lombard, who played a former major in the military police-tuned-investigator in the pilot alongside LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell.

Yet, according to an article on HollywoodReporter.com, "But the switch is not a direct recasting as Hunt will play a new character. Her character will oversee the 'backroom' support staff tasked with providing everything from micro surveillance cameras to cars for Callen (O'Donnell) and his team. Efficient, hard-nosed and resourceful after years of being a Miss Fix-it in the film industry, she seems tough but genuinely cares about Callen and his team.'"

This spin-off of the wildly successful "CSI" franchise is set at the Office of Special Projects, a division of NCIS that is charged with capturing dangerous and elusive criminals that pose a threat to the nation's security.

Hunt won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1983 for her role as "Billy Kwan" in the film, "The Year of Living Dangerously." She has also been featured in movies such as the 2006 Emma Thompson dramedy, "Stranger Than Fiction," the 2005 Dennis Quaid/Rene Russo family comedy, "Yours, Mine and Ours," and Hunt portrayed an elementary school principal against Arnold Schwarzenegger's undercover cop turned kindergarten teacher in 1990's "Kindergarten Cop." As for television, Hunt has had recent recurring roles on CBS's "The Unit" and "Without a Trace" and HBO's "Carnivale."