Matlock hit the airwaves last year with Kathy Bates as leading lady and a quick path to becoming CBS’ biggest freshman hit of the season. Bates and Co. are on the way back to the small screen in the 2025 TV schedule, and the network has shed some light on how Season 2 is going to pick up where Season 1 left off with Olympia facing a big decision about Julian vs. Matty. While it’s going to be rough on the characters, I can already imagine Bates and Skye P. Marshall crushing the storyline.
CBS is giving Matlock a special premiere on Sunday, October 12 before moving the hit drama back to its usual Thursday time slot ahead of Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth. Called “The Before Times,” the premiere’s description from the network suggests to me that fans aren’t in for a huge time jump like what might be expected following a hiatus. Take a look for yourself:
Matty questions the paternity of the man claiming to be Alfie’s father. Also, the team takes on an arson case while Olympia tries to protect Julian’s involvement in the Wellbrexa case.
Unless the man claiming to be Alfie’s father has been waiting in the wings for months and Olympia has been able to avoid making a decision about Julian and Wellbrexa for a whole summer, I’d say that the episode description indicates Matlock is going to pick up where Season 1 left off with plenty of questions. (You can stream the first season with a Paramount+ subscription now.)
One of my questions following the Season 1 finale was pretty straightforward: will Olympia tell anybody about Julian’s role in hiding the Wellbrexa document that could have prevented Ellie’s death, and potentially many others? If the guilty party was anybody except for her ex-husband and the father of her children, I’d predict that Olympia would definitely act on the information and try to get justice for Matty, despite learning of Matty’s betrayal.
But Julian is her ex-husband and the father of her children, and making partner doesn’t mean that Olympia would want to blow up her family. Jason Ritter being so dang likable as Julian complicates the matter as well, as far as I’m concerned, and his jokes about Matlock crossing over with Tracker also indicate that Julian isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
That leads me to believe that Olympia is going to keep his secrets for some time, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be happy about it. It could also lead to some very interesting interactions between Olympia and Matty. In the first season, Matty was the one struggling to keep a massive secret. In Season 2, it seems like it'll be Olympia’s turn. Only time will tell if Olympia and Matty will ever be as close as they were before the truth came out about Madeline Kingston, but I’m very excited to see any new levels to the relationship that Skye P. Marshall and Kathy Bates can deliver.
Matlock returns to CBS for Season 2 on Sunday, October 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET, then returns to its usual 9 p.m. ET time slot on Thursdays on October 16. The October premiere means that fans will know if Kathy Bates won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama by the time the cast is back in primetime. The Emmys air on Sunday, September 14 starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
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