‘Elsbeth’ Boss Talks [Spoiler’s] Shocking Promotion As Actor Pivots To Guest Star, Christine Baranski, & Musical Season Finale

SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals major plot points from tonight’s episode of CBS‘ Elsbeth.

EXCLUSIVE: Tonight’s episode of Elsbeth revealed the shocking news that a popular character has been promoted as the actress makes a change in casting. Carra Patterson, who has played Officer Kaya Blanke since Season 1, will return as a guest star indefinitely, as we reported earlier this evening.

Patterson shared with Deadline, “My character, Kaya Blanke, is embarking on a new adventure as the story continues to unfold, and I am excited to do the same. But we will see Kaya again – fans will find out what she’s been up to in her new role as ‘Detective’ next season when I come back to guest star and play with Carrie and Wendell.  I am beyond grateful to the cast, crew, and producers, and of course, the fans, for all the love and support.”

Before going off to her new gig, Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) will toast her bestie in the season finale “Ramen Holiday,” airing on May 8. It features fabulous guest stars including Stephen Moyer, Retta, Gina Gershon, Elizabeth Lail, Arian Moayed, André De Shields, Alyssa Milano, Mary-Louise Parker, and Ethan Slater.

We caught up with executive producer Jonathan Tolins to discuss tonight’s episode, how Kaya’s promotion will change as the show moves ahead to Season 3, the possibility of Christine Baranski playing a judge in the future, and the upcoming Season 2 musical finale.

DEADLINE: What was the inspiration for tonight’s episode?

JONATHAN TOLINS: When we first started the series, one of the things that we said was that it’s not a show that’s overtly political or trying to make a statement anyway, but it is about someone who is taking down people who think they can get away with anything. And that’s a very resonant theme, right now, no matter what your political outlook is. The idea of a bucket list murder came up right at the very beginning of Season 2, so it’s something we had on the back burner. Originally, the idea was for an older person who thought of doing a bunch of things. But then the idea of making it a young person, a playboy, or someone who has just been so privileged that they don’t feel anything anymore, and it leads them to commit this horrific act. That was really interesting to us. [The episode] is not specifically inspired by anything that happened in the news, but there have certainly been plenty of things that feel like they rhyme with our story.

DEADLINE: You all tackle the topic of corrupt judges, also a hot topic right now. Was that just a coincidence?

JT: Yes. I think that the original inspiration for Judge Crawford [Michael Emerson], and also for Teddy’s [Ben Levi Ross] struggle about whether or not to join the legal profession, came out of certain court decisions, which made us wonder about the future of the legal profession. We’re living in a time where you can’t even depend on language to mean what we all thought it meant. Again, the show is not overtly political, but I feel like no matter who you are or what your perspective is, we’re living in a time where we feel the ground shifting under our feet. We’re all trying to hold on to things. When Captain Wagner [Wendell Pierce], at the end of [episode] 18 says, “What we do is we try. We try to make the system better every day,” and that was powerful for us. I also think that Elsbeth is a character who stands for kindness and trying to figure out the truth. Those are things that are timeless virtues.

DEADLINE: In tonight’s episode, Kaya gets a big promotion. While huge for the character, this also means Carra will not return next season as a series regular. However, she will continue as a guest star. What can you share about the casting change?

JT: Kaya just turned out to be this wonderful partner for Elsbeth, and that relationship was one that we all love so much, and we love Carra. We’re excited that the character got her promotion and achieved that dream. She’s not leaving the world of the show. She’s just not going to be with us every day. I don’t want to make too much of the change.

DEADLINE: We rarely get to see two professional women in this world of law enforcement who are so bad ass together. Did Carrie and Carra’s real-life chemistry make it easier to write for their characters?

JT: It was one of the nice things about working on a series where you get to do 20 episodes a season, where you don’t write it all before you’re shooting, there is a very organic progression, where we see the episodes as they’re coming out. So, we all naturally picked up on this wonderful chemistry that Carrie and Carra have, the love between the characters, and the love between the actresses, which was palpable. We found more and more ways to dig into this somewhat unusual relationship. They’re not the same age, from different places, and even financially, they’re different. Elsbeth had this huge legal career, so there were different pressures put on them, both at work and outside of work. It just felt very real and genuine for us to write to them.

DEADLINE: Could there potentially be a spinoff there, going undercover with Kaya and her new team?

JT: I’m so exhausted, one show at a time. I don’t know how people run more than one show at a time. I can’t imagine. But I would watch, and be happy to help if that were in the offing.

DEADLINE: With Patterson shifting to guest star, are you looking for someone to fill the position left open by Kaya?

JT: We have developed this habit of introducing new characters as we go and using them in a way that feels organic. I have no intention of forcing someone into the slot that was Kaya’s place on the show. We’re going to go with the flow and see what happens and try some things. The wonderful thing is that Carrie Preston is wonderful with everybody. This is not going to be like a Darren Stevens situation. Kaya is irreplaceable. She’s not gone; she’s still part of our world. So we’re going to see what happens. I’m trying very hard not to make any decisions or even think about Season 3 much until the writers’ room reconvenes in a few weeks.

DEADLINE: We have seen some great actors come in as judges, including Michael Emerson. When can we see Christine Baranski finally take the throne? She doesn’t have to be Diane Lockhart, as other former The Good Wife/The Good Fight actors have been on Elsbeth as new characters. What say you?

JT: Christine Baranski is a goddess, and I would jump at any chance to work with her at any time.

DEADLINE: Speaking of judges, have we heard the last of Crawford? He may be dead, but the show is still talking about him.

JT: Yes, he’s dead, but he put some awful things in motion that could come back in Season 3. Even though he’s gone from this world, I think his legacy will remain in the story.

DEADLINE: Before you go, what can you tease about the upcoming musical finale? So many guest stars from prior episodes are coming back. What can you share?

JT: First of all, putting this together was scheduling Jenga, trying to get everyone’s schedule to work. [Laughs] It was always going to be a big swing, and we didn’t know if anybody would say yes. We asked a few people who were unable to join us because of their schedule. We figured we’d get maybe 5, but we ended up with 8 willing and able. I was writing the script in a way with slots of different, ‘Well, if we have this person, I could make it this way, if it were this person…’ And it actually worked out really well. We ended up with more women than men, which was good because Elsbeth is in the women’s wing in jail, and so mathematically, I was able to work it out.

The two hardest parts were the scheduling and waiting to be granted the rights to use the “Cell Block Tango.” We prepared as if they were going to say yes, and fortunately, in the end, they did, because we went a long way on a limb getting ready for it, and getting the number together. We built our own prison set that was a stage. And I think there was talk that people may want to take it over, that the owner of the stages might not take it down, so other people could shoot it. It’s such a great, great jail set.

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This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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