Michael Emerson finally returned to Elsbeth in the 2025 TV schedule to play the leading lady's nemesis, Judge Milton Crawford, opposite real-life wife Carrie Preston. The episode in question, called "Foiled Again," was a big one for guest stars, with not only Emerson, but also Ben Levi Ross as Teddy Tascioni and Matthew Broderick as the second Producers alum of Season 2. But with just one scene, Emerson reminded why Crawford is a major ongoing threat for Elsbeth... and it clicked for me about what he and costume designer Dan Lawson wanted to avoid on Elsbeth as his first acting job after Evil.
If you watched Evil with a Paramount+ subscription prior to Elsbeth, you likely recognized Emerson more for his work as the psychopathic Dr. Leland Townsend rather than as Lost's Ben Linus or Person of Interest's Harold. The series finale of Evil released to determine Leland's fate just a couple months before news broke that Emerson would be recurring as a new antagonist on Elsbeth. The actor had previously said that he didn't want to "play the villain" on his wife's show as it would be "too on the nose."
Recalling all of this for "Foiled Again" after Crawford's return to confront Elsbeth about that murder case being reopened and show off how "untouchable" he feels happened to line up with my conversation with Elsbeth costume designer Dan Lawson at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta. Lawson also happened to be the costume designer for Emerson across all four seasons of Evil, and he shared what he and Emerson wanted to avoid with his arrival as Judge Crawford:
Michael Emerson is a true gentleman. I'll just start there. He is immensely talented, and it was great working with him and being able to really start from the point of character, because they're two very different characters. They both end up being naughty, not very nice, but it was interesting to discover who this new character was, and he and I talked, and we wanted to make sure that he did not look like the character that he had just played on Evil, and who I had costumed for four seasons. We wanted this to be different, so it was challenging and fun, and something that he and I just immediately had a shorthand with. It was really fun and terrific.
I think it's safe to say that not even diehard Evil fans will be confusing Judge Crawford and Leland any time soon, which was what both Emerson and the costume designer were going for with his new antagonistic character. It should be fun to see if Crawford gets any more overtly villainous as the season continues; at this point in Elsbeth Season 2, nobody knows for sure just yet that he was the baseball bat-wielding killer.
On the brighter side, the return of Teddy meant the return of Ben Levi Ross, who endeared himself to fans as Elsbeth's son in the first half of Season 2. While mother and son had a bit of conflict in "Foiled Again," they resolved it by the end and the door seems as wide open as ever for him to turn up again.
Dan Lawson, who was also the costume designer for The Good Wife and The Good Fight for Carrie Preston's earliest appearances as Elsbeth Tascioni, was excited to talk about the Season 2 newcomer, saying:
We finally got to meet Teddy! One of the big discussions was, should we see Teddy? Should Teddy always be this sort of unnamed, unseen character? And it's so great because Ben, who plays the part, plays Teddy so lovingly and so well. It was like, 'Of course, we have to see Teddy! It's Ben!' It's terrific.
Elsbeth has been Ben Levi Ross' first recurring role on television, and I for one was immediately convinced by his and Carrie Preston's performances that they were mother and son. As I noted to Dan Lawson, I also looked Ross up to see if he and Preston were actually related because of how well he sold it, and the costume designer responded:
Isn't that amazing? There's a bit of a facial structure there that you see it. And we try to dress him a little, not as quirky as she is, but there's a little wink, if you will, to his look.
It remains to be seen if and when Teddy will pop up again, but the odds seem pretty good with Roy relocating the New York City and surviving meeting his mom. As for Judge Crawford... well, we can surely count on seeing him again now that Elsbeth has even more reason to get dirt on him ASAP, but she'll have a murder involving guest star Jordana Brewster to tackle in the next new ep. Take a look at the promo:
Keep tuning in to CBS on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET for new episodes of Elsbeth. Carrie Preston's hit drama was among the nine shows recently renewed by the network, so fans can enjoy the rest of Season 2 without worrying about whether there will be a Season 3. Plus, if you want to revisit Michael Emerson's earlier episodes opposite Carrie Preston or all four seasons of Evil, you can find both shows streaming on Paramount+ now.
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