Elsbeth has recruited another big name to guest star, with The Conners and Roseanne icon Laurie Metcalf on board for the Season 2 fall finale on December 19. Even if this hadn't been the last installment of the 2024 TV schedule, it would be an episode fans wouldn't want to miss as Elsbeth takes on the world of police procedurals... from within a police procedural, and Metcalf is playing a character who is playing a character. Executive producer Jonathan Tolins spoke with CinemaBlend about why the actress widely known for sitcoms was the right choice for Elsbeth's take on police procedurals!
The fall finale is called "Toil and Trouble," and features real-life TV star Laurie Metcalf playing fictional TV star Regina Coburn, who is two decades into her run as the leading lady of a crime procedural on network television by the name of Father Crime. As the clip above shows, a season of network television can equal upwards of twenty episodes, leaving little time for a regular to take on a major role in Macb... The Scottish Play, that is.
I spoke with showrunner and EP Jonathan Tolins about the last episode before the 2025 TV schedule, and he explained why the comedy icon was perfect for an hour-long procedural like Elsbeth:
Well, I think Laurie Metcalf can play anything. I mean, she's the answer to basically any casting question, as far as I'm concerned, because she's also one of the great stage actresses of our time. She's just brilliant. We just knew she would be hilarious in this part. She would understand how to play an actress stuck in a role for 20 years who was thwarted, has her ambitions thwarted, and who longs to be taken more seriously as an actress doing Shakespeare.
Laurie Metcalf may be best known for nearly 350 episodes as Jackie Harris across Roseanne and The Conners, but she's certainly not exclusively a sitcom star, and it's fitting that Jonathan Tolins mentioned her as "one of the great stage actresses." Metcalf has been nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two. She also won four Emmys out of the twelve she was nominated for, and even earned an Academy Award nom for Lady Bird. Is it any wonder that Tolins was up for casting her on Elsbeth? He went on:
Nobody can do it better than Laurie Metcalf in terms of playing a part like that, deeply understanding it, being hilarious, but without commenting on it or showing that she's trying to be funny. [laughs] Which is always the challenge of our show, to get the tone just right, and we knew she would.
Elsbeth does have a unique tone on television, as the killers are often ridiculous enough to be quite funny while also pretty dangerous, and Michael Emerson's Judge Milton Crawford is a dramatic nemesis for the often lighthearted leading lady. Carrie Preston in fact described Crawford as the "Moriarty to her Sherlock." (You can rewatch Emerson's first episode streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.) For a little extra fun? Preston and Emerson are married in real life.
According to Jonathan Tolins, the team behind the scenes had expertise when it comes to procedurals even before Elsbeth tackled the genre in the meta Season 2 fall finale. He said:
People on our staff, some of the writers had worked on procedurals that were done in New York, including myself. I worked on East New York, which was my last job before Elsbeth, and that's why, when we were casting, it suddenly dawned on me [who] to ask to play the showrunner of Father Crime. I asked Billy Finkelstein, who was the showrunner of East New York, and who I worked with for five years on The Good Fight. Billy has been a TV showrunner on many shows. He ran L.A. Law and worked on NYPD Blue, and he's been around a long time. I love him in [Elsbeth], because to me… he just brings such a level of authenticity to this world that it really helps you buy into the reality of Father Crime.
After Tolins shared who would be playing the showrunner on the fictional Father Crime, I was personally excited to go on and learn that Billy Finkelstein also worked on Law & Order for a time, because when I think of the definitive procedurals, I think of either Law & Order (currently at 24 seasons and counting) or Law & Order: SVU (currently at 26 seasons and counting with Mariska Hargitay). He has a part to play on Elsbeth next, although not his usual one!
Be sure to tune in to CBS on Thursday, December 19 at 10 p.m. ET for the fall finale of Elsbeth Season 2, or watch on Paramount+ if you prefer streaming to broadcast television. Fans are then in for a winter hiatus until Carrie Preston and Co. return on January 30 following Matlock.
