(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Late-night talk shows are dominating the news cycle, with temporary suspensions and permanent cancellations. Anyone who tuned in to Elsbeth’s Season 3 premiere might be under the impression that showrunner Jonathan Tolins is taking a ripped-from-the-headlines approach to the popular series. Especially considering Stephen Colbert is playing the episode’s murder victim.
“The first thing that he [Colbert] said to me was, ‘Wow, everybody’s gonna think that the Elsbeth writers have the biggest balls in Hollywood,’” Carrie Preston tells The Daily Beast Obsessed.
Instead, Tolins had written this episode before the shock announcement in mid-July that CBS canceled The Late Show. The following week, Elsbeth started production on its third season, and Colbert didn’t miss a beat playing the host of the fictional Way Late with Scotty Bristol.
“We were ready to have to recast it, thinking he’s [Colbert] got too much going on. He’s not going to be able to do it, just time-wise,” says Preston. “But he came on and said, ‘No, I was absolutely excited to do it.’ He couldn’t wait, and he was totally prepared.”
Don’t expect any knowing winks about The Late Show news, though Tolins did want to maximize Colbert’s presence in the episode beyond the scenes he shot: “His picture is all over the set, so you feel like he’s there all the time.”
Scotty isn’t the kindest TV star or boss, which is why his executive producer, Laurel (Amy Sedaris), turns a paper shredder into a murder weapon. “Although they have the same job, Scotty Bristol is not the loving, accepting, wonderful, and welcoming person that Stephen Colbert is,” says Preston.
Sedaris and Colbert’s 30-plus-year friendship and Second City improv connection add another potent layer to this storyline.
Andy Richter takes on a familiar role as late-night sidekick, Mickey (who is also married to Laurel). Scotty’s habitual bullying of Mickey on air leads to Laurel snapping. The trio came up together in the improv scene, but by the time Laurel is arrested, she is the only one alive (Mickey dies of a heart attack).
The Season 3 premiere is a doozy that includes multiple nods to Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, a custom-made pink tartan suit, and a significant first: Elsbeth and Scotty Bristol interacted hours before his death.
“Elsbeth never meets the victim. We have never had a situation where Elsbeth crossed paths with the victim, because it would be pretty coincidental to have her meet the person before they die,” says Tolins. “It’s not like she lives in Cabot Cove [from Murder, She Wrote].”
Instead, Elsbeth collects people she meets during a murder investigation. Take the reason why she encounters (and annoys) Scotty. Elsbeth is accompanying Way Late guest Sheryl (Marcia DeBonis), who is promoting a book on Wellness. Sheryl was Elsbeth’s partner during an investigation last season, and Elsbeth is keen to cultivate new friendships now that BFF Kaya (Carra Patterson) has undercover assignments. A social circle of people with a work connection isn’t unusual, and Elsbeth makes the most of meeting under tragic circumstances.
After the delightful and delirious Season 2 finale, in which Elsbeth went to prison and lived out a Chicago fantasy, this return is simultaneously familiar and off-kilter. Tolins agrees that Elsbeth is unmoored: “Having her be jet-lagged through an episode also gave us that feeling of like we’re still getting our bearings, everybody. We’re finding out who we are now? What’s the lay of the land?”
One staple that remains is a colorful, eye-catching closet, and Elsbeth’s playful twist on Scottish heritage doesn’t disappoint. Preston explains that costume designer Daniel Lawson had to take the custom route because there were no suitable options in Elsbeth’s signature shade: “He could not find a pink tartan suit anywhere in the world. So he found a pink tartan fabric and he had that suit built.”
Elsbeth, clad in pink tartan, comes straight from the airport to the TV studio, having just visited Scottish love interest Angus (Ioan Gruffudd), whom she hesitates to call her boyfriend. Preston was able to channel the high of being back on set into Elsbeth’s jet-lag state of mind: “When I did the scene with Stephen Colbert, where Elsbeth meets Scotty Bristol, there really wasn’t a lot of acting required there.”
It was also a dream come true for Preston to work opposite Sedaris (“She was everything that I dreamt that she would be”). The At Home with Amy Sedaris star naturally took to the dialogue-heavy scripts that set Elsbeth apart. “We were really good scene partners together, because we do come from a similar [stage] background,” says Preston. “It was an honor to play with her.”
In fact, the Venn diagram between “theater people” and Elsbeth casting is basically a circle—case in point, Tony-winner Lindsay Mendez as Officer Grace Hackett. Storywise, the connection to the musical was apparent to Tolins early on: “As we were breaking the story, I said the relationship with these three people is really like Merrily. It’s three people who are very close, loved each other, and one was the star.”
The only person cast when Tolins wrote the episode was Colbert, but having Mendez appear in an episode layered with Merrily We Roll Along references was kismet. Mendez starred in the smash hit 2023 Broadway revival opposite Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe. “She manages to give us everything we look for on our show, which is someone who can play it totally straight, but also just have that little twinkle in the eye that fits with us,” Tolins says.
Mendez also provides unique insight for Preston, inspiring a moment when Elsbeth reveals how Laurel killed Scotty. “I turned to Lindsay, and I said, ‘Hey, did you guys have any little physical thing that you did, some secret thing, some little handshake, something or other?” says Preston. “She was like, ‘Yeah, we did this thing where we clasped our two fingers together.’ I put that in for the fans, because I got it directly from the person who was in the show.”
Connections to Merrily We Roll Along abound on the Elsbeth set. Tolins attended the open casting call for the short-lived 1981 production (Tolins notes that casting director Joanna Merlin “typed me out as too young”). The score is one of his favorites, and fans might recognize several pieces of music, including the Overture, as the theme for Way Late. “It makes the episode fun and rich,” says Preston. “Even if you don’t know that history, it gives the episode some layers and texture.”
Elsbeth is now officially back to reclaim the crown of comfort TV—even with episodes that reflect elements of current events. The secret ingredient? “I always want us in the writers’ room and any of the writers of the show to be writing the thing that we love,” says Tolins. “If we love it, then chances are there’s enough people out there who will love it too. At least enough to keep us on air.”
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