Note: This story contains spoilers from “Matlock” Season 2, Episode 8.
Just as the “Matlock” winter finale saw Skye P. Marshall’s Olympia choose justice over loyalty to her family, handing over the Wellbrexa study to Kathy Bates’ Matty, the plot thickened when the camera panned to Julian (Jason Ritter) watching them from outside the brownstone, finally catching on to the pair’s partnership.
“He’s furious, terrified, betrayed and you are not your best self when you are feeling those things, I would say,” showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman told TheWrap, promising that February’s winter premiere will address Julian’s discovery head on.
“We don’t hold secrets too long on the show — we like to see what happens when they come out and how that changes the dynamics,” she added, noting that the midseason premiere will explore “how to contain that threat and what to do in the aftermath.” “Matty and Olympia are aligned, which makes it fun to figure out.”
Julian’s discovery won’t be the only thing shaking up dynamics when “Matlock” returns on Feb. 26. As previously reported, series regular David Del Rio was fired in October due to a sexual assault allegation, prompting Snyder Urman to write out his character, Billy, who works closely alongside Olympia and Matty, as well as Leah Lewis’ Sarah. It’s been reported that Del Rio was reinterviewed by “Matlock” producer CBS Studios upon the actors’ request, though CBS declined to comment on legal matters.
While Snyder Urman declined to speak about Del Rio’s departure, she revealed that the winter finale’s mention of a traumatic event for Billy — his girlfriend suffering a miscarriage — is not the reason for his exit, but more so “an event that happens on the way to his departure.”
“The way that the character exits is really in keeping in line with all of the other stories that we’re telling in the back half, and it really makes a lot of sense for the character and for the show in the context of the story we’re telling,” Snyder Urman said.
While Snyder Urman said there won’t necessarily be a character coming in to fill that gap, several new additions to Jacobson Moore are on the way, including Sarah Wright Olsen, who will play Gwen, an efficiency expert analyzing the firm; and Henry Haber, who joins as Hunter, a younger associate from the floater pool that is a total bro, per the character description. We’ll also see the return of familiar faces like “Jane the Virgin” star Yael Grobglas, who appeared in Season 1, as well as Justina Machado, who joined the CBS drama series this season.
“Our office is expanding, and that was a huge part of our goal this year when we set out in the writers’ room right away — we really wanted to let everyone know who else worked here and what the structure of the law firm was … especially as we’re going into this merger with this other law firm,” Snyder Urman said.
Look below for more from Snyder Urman about what’s ahead in “Matlock” Season 2, the show’s awards momentum and more. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
TheWrap: Congrats on the Globes and Critics Choices nominations. How does it feel to have that love and know you avoided the sophomore slump?
Snyder Urman: I’m so just happy and proud of everyone that works on the show … I love seeing Skye being recognized for the work that she does because this is a show about the love story between Olympia and Matty and that deep friendship, and to have somebody who can hold their own with Kathy Bates, who’s such a legend and can do everything, is such a gift. To watch these two women work together is, to me, my whole reason for doing the show.
This episode Sarah is really struggling without Billy and her doing this under the table work for Senior comes to a head in the finale when Olympia moves her off her team. Why was this moral conundrum something you wanted to explore in Sarah?
At the beginning of the season, we really wanted to test her ambition and put her in a really difficult place, and then we were interested in what she does when given that choice, but then what it does to her after, and how it changes the character, how she learns and grows from that, what her priorities are. She though it was get to the top, but when she’s let go from Olympia’s [team], it’s devastating. This was a family and you’ve seen a little bit with her mom — She feels like that family is moving away, and now she’s cut off from Olympia and Matty, and it’s really devastating.
It makes the character go inward, think about new things, reassess things. It’s a really interesting, I think, point of inflection for the character and then puts her into other combinations that are interesting, because that’s also been a big part of our journey this season — we’ve got all these great actors. I want to see them with other people — that was part of what the Sarah and Senior pairing was.
Why was Olympia so steadfast in moving Sarah off her team?
Olympia is just coming off of this huge lie that Matty told her — if we’re talking in terms of an epic romance, it’s finding out your husband has a whole other family — it was so devastating to her, because she is not someone that just grows close with people quickly or easily, and she and Matty had come to something so real and so deep, and then she found out she couldn’t trust her. So she’s just thin skinned on trust right now — it’s opening herself up to be hurt again, and she’s not willing to go there. She’s gone there with Matty, and she doesn’t want that to be who she is in the world — somebody that somebody can lie to, walk all over and she gives another chance to because that’s not how she sees herself. The forgiveness that she’s given to Matty is hard fought and earned.
We also see that arc cemented in Olympia when she decides to hand over the study to Matty.
What I love is that it’s their ultimate moment of trust and of coming back together — that is the proposal in a romantic comedy. This is the most precious thing that has so many life stakes attached to it, and she gives it to her because she knows what it means to Matty and doesn’t want her own emotional calibrations to get in the way of justice — that’s why the story is about how do we hold heroes accountable? If somebody you know devotes their life to doing something good but then does something bad, they’re still accountable for that. Olympia realizes that even if all of the circumstances change, I can’t let my personal feelings get in the way of justice for Matty and for what she’s gone through, and also just as a bigger concept of justice, and so giving her that document and putting the control in her hands.
It’s a huge moment in their relationship, and what I really love that it sets up is that we get to live in the joy of Olympia and Maddie back together again in the second half of the season. The trust issues are gone … you want them back together, you root for the two of them to have their friendship.
Meanwhile, there’s been plenty of developments in Matty’s personal life. What’s it been like delving into those stories and seeing Matty deal with another addict?
It’s been really rewarding. It allows her to access her daughter in a different way through somebody that knew her. I loved Episode 7, where she understands that he’s a person, too. Our whole show is about all these chess pieces that Matty had in her mind, but then they became people and they complicated her mission, and she started to have feelings for them. This is the same thing that’s happening now with Joey, which is that he’s not just Alfie’s father [and] a problem to deal with, he’s a human being that actually could give them access to parts of their daughter that they didn’t know. It’s like a new memory introduced hearing a new story of someone that you’ve said goodbye to, and suddenly you get this kernel of something you didn’t know, and makes them suddenly alive again, suddenly there again. That’s going to bring complications as well, because sobriety is so complicated.
This season you’ve had some great guest stars in Justina Machado, Melanie Lynskey, Yvette Nicole Brown. When might Skye’s husband, Edwin Hodge, come on the show?
I want him on the show very much and I have a part lined up, so it’s coming. I feel really lucky that we have people that want to be on the show, and I say, “Yes, please.”
“Matlock” returns with new episodes Feb. 26 on CBS.Past episodes are now streaming on Paramount+
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