Matlock Showrunner and executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman teases the conclusion of the first half of the second season and what to expect when the series returns early next year. The midseason finale “Call It a Christmas Gift” airs Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBS.
Hot off the presses are two new additions to the season 2 recurring cast. They are Sarah Wright Olsen (Parks and Recreation, Made in the USA) and newcomer Henry Haber. Wright Olsen will play Gwen, a performance expert analyzing the company, and Haber as Hunter, a young floating pool associate who is a total bro. Their characters don’t appear in tonight’s episode, but they recently started working on the series.
During a conversation with Snyder Urman earlier this week, she confirmed that Haber would not be joining Matlock replacing David Del Rio, who was fired from the series in October following an internal investigation by CBS Studios into sexual assault allegations filed by a co-star. Del Rio has denied the allegations.
The boss of the series refused to talk about the subject. She did, however, confirm that Del Rios’ final appearance had already happened and that the story of his character, Billy Martinez, would conclude off-camera in future episodes.
“I’m not going to discuss specifics, but what I can talk about is in terms of the show,” she said. “The last episode you see him in is in 7, and then you find out how Billy’s story ends, which is in a very organic way that relates to our whole office and how things shape up in this merger.”
Regarding the addition of the new office, she revealed, “We’re always bringing in new associates, new people, because we want to give our characters different energies to respond to and different obstacles to overcome. And one thing that we were talking about in the writers’ room that we wanted to bring in is a brother, like a real brother.”
Snyder Urman added of the new character Hunter: “What will that look like for Olympia? [Skye P. Marshall] and Matty [Kathy Bates] be with a brother? They’ve been around characters who truly see them as the pinnacle and do things their own way. But what happens when you have someone who steps aside a little and shoots a basketball when they want the ideas to flow? What is it like in our women’s world? And I’ll tell you, it’s funny.
We don’t want to spoil any surprises that await us in the midseason finale, but what we can say is that this merge will cause people to act in all kinds of crazy ways. Snyder Urman and his team of talented writers focus on what they do best: creating drama. As for Olympia and Matty, they were terribly at odds in the first half of the season, and in tonight’s episode, the tone for the second half is set.
Pictured (L-R): Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence and Kathy Bates as Madeline Matlock in the “Matlock” Season 2 midseason finale “Call It a Christmas Gift.”
Michael Yarish/CBS
Plus, some secrets will finally be revealed, leaving viewers wondering how it will all play out when the show returns on Thursday, February 26. It is also important to note that no one can escape the consequences of their actions. There are lessons to be learned, and they might hurt, but this is a high-stakes company that got involved in a significant breach that benefited big pharma (and their lawyers), while people like Matty lost loved ones. People must be held responsible, but who?
Although Snyder Urman gave no indication of the winding road we’ll take toward the end of the season, she did confirm that they will wrap up the Wellbrexa storyline by then. Oh, and fans who can’t get enough of Justina Machado’s Eva Muñoz, a character she was born to play, as well as James Lesure, and maybe another Joan the Virgin ancient that already exists in this universe, you have fun things to look forward to, as always.
Season 2 debuted on October 12 with 13.4 million viewers in L+35 across all platforms, making it a Top 3 series overall, according to CBS. Also in recent news, Bates and Marshall were nominated for Critics Choice Awards for their roles in Matlock for a second year in a row, with Bates also nominated this year for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Drama at the Golden Globes.
The rest of my spoiler-filled conversation with Snyder Urman will be posted after the midseason finale.
