CBS is filling out the 2024 TV schedule with a mix of new shows and returning favorites, and Elsbeth manages to be a bit of both. Starring Emmy winner Carrie Preston, the show is technically a spinoff of The Good Wife and The Good Fight that previously featured Elsbeth Tascioni as a character, but even a quick glance at the trailer will show that Elsbeth isn't a carbon copy of the other two shows. So, does one need to know the originals to follow and enjoy the new spinoff? Stars Carrie Preston and Wendell Pierce answered that very question when speaking with CinemaBlend.
Preston reprises her Good Wife and Good Fight role for Elsbeth, and she comes into the new show with a Guest Actress Emmy already under her belt for her work as the character on The Good Wife. Unlike the two earlier shows that were set in Chicago, the spinoff takes place in New York City, and Elsbeth definitely isn't a defense attorney this time around. As an outside observer-turned-investigator with the NYPD, she can use her unique skills to help crack cases... whether or not the local cops – including Captain Wagner, played by Suits' Wendell Pierce – are happy about it.
Carrie Preston, who made a name for herself as part of the True Blood cast prior to landing a solo Elsbeth series, spoke with CinemaBlend and weighed in on whether the spinoff stands on its own for viewers who haven't seen The Good Wife and/or The Good Fight. She said:
Well, it was interesting. I would have said it would be beneficial that people have seen The Good Wife and The Good Fight, but when they tested the pilot, because on the network and studio level, they want to make sure that there's an audience for a show before they order it to series. They found that there were very few people in these focus groups that had even seen The Good Wife or Good Fight, and if they had seen them, they might not have even seen the episodes that Elsbeth was in. That gave us a good indication that the show is standing on its own.
For as much as Elsbeth was a memorable character (including that Emmy as Outstanding Guest Actress in 2013) on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Carrie Preston only appeared in twenty episodes between the two series. As the star noted, viewers of those shows might not have caught all of the Elsbeth episodes. Plus, the new spinoff didn't launch via a backdoor pilot, so the series premiere episode on February 29 will be brand new to everybody. Preston continued:
People get the character pretty quickly that she's a fish out of water, so to speak, and someone who's smart and unconventional in the way she approaches things. And that there's some fun and excitement in watching something like that. That was a good encouraging thing to hear and I just play a character and hope that people are going to receive her and be excited to go on the journey with her unorthodox mind.
While Elsbeth's "unorthodox mind" can be fun to watch without all of the background from The Good Wife and The Good Fight, that unconventional approach might not make her too popular with some of the other characters.
Wendell Pierce plays Captain C.W. Wagner, who is a respected leader in the NYPD but not somebody accustomed to Elsbeth as the "fish out of water" and not from either of the earlier shows. The actor described his character's priorities in the show, saying:
He's on guard. His priority is to make sure that the ship stays on course, that she doesn't upend things. And while he's being very protective of that, and very suspicious and anxious about her, he does recognize good work when he sees it, and there's always a moment where he recognizes how intelligent she is, how good she is. It's good police work. So no matter how grating she may be, personally, to me [as Wagner] at moments, I kind of concede the fact that she's really good at what she does, and I kind of concede that in spite of everything. When someone knows what they're doing, you have to recognize it, and appreciate it.
But what about Elsbeth in relation to The Good Wife and The Good Fight? When I asked how familiar he was with the two origin shows prior to landing the role of Captain Wagner, he shared that he'd seen Carrie Preston in the role and did "remember when she won the Emmy." He described it as a "familiarity [from] those shows being as popular as they were," to the point that it was hard to not know about the series. He went on to explain how Elsbeth stands on its own:
Such great actors, great ensembles, but what's really interesting is [creators] Robert King and Michelle King and [showrunner] Jonathan [Tolins] have brought together a really different show that is uniquely Elsbeth. While that is origin material, and there's nice little Easter eggs in our show with references to her past and to Chicago, Elsbeth in New York – and New York is another character in our show – is uniquely hers. It's her story and her show, so I find that very, very creative and something that is very enlightening… because it's uniquely a new television show, with a character that we're familiar with, but it's totally different.
Fortunately, the wait to see just how Elsbeth sets itself apart from The Good Wife and The Good Fight is almost over with its Leap Day premiere on February 29. For now, take a look at the trailer for a preview of what to expect from CBS' newest spinoff:
The series premiere of Elsbeth airs on Thursday, February 29 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, following So Help Me Todd Season 2 at 9 p.m., Ghosts Season 3 at 8:30 p.m., and Young Sheldon's final season at 8 p.m. ET. If you want to revisit The Good Wife and The Good Fight despite the shows not being essential to enjoy Elsbeth, you can find both shows streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.
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