The cast and crew of NBC's "Crossing Jordan" will wait a while longer to return to work.

Production on the show's third season was scheduled to begin this week, but star Jill Hennessy asked the network and NBC Studios, which produces the series, for some more time to spend with her newborn child. Work on the show will probably start up again in January.

NBC, however, doesn't anticipate the change will affect "Jordan's" return to the airwaves. "As we announced in May, 'Crossing Jordan' will return to NBC's schedule in January," a network spokesman tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The network decided to hold the show back for midseason to accommodate Hennessy's pregnancy. Writing a pregnancy for her character, Jordan Cavanaugh, into the show wouldn't have made much sense, and as Hennessy is in nearly every scene, shooting around it would have caused a big logistical headache.

Six episodes of the new season were shot this spring, before Hennessy began her leave.