‘Elsbeth’: Carrie Preston Teases Fashion Case & Tension With Wagner in Season 1 Finale

Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) may be about to work her last case in New York in the CBS drama’s May 23 finale (airing at an earlier time, 9/8c), or, well, so she thinks. Elsbeth has been renewed for Season 2, but Captain Wagner’s (Wendell Pierce) declaration, that he wants her to go back to Chicago after an arrest was made in the corruption case against him (Lieutenant Noonan had been using his name), could mean some major changes. Besides, Elsbeth doesn’t even necessarily want to return to Chicago!

“I think she’s really found a new life and a new beginning reinvention, so to speak, of herself in New York, and so the thought of going back is pretty daunting to her,” Preston tells TV Insider. “She really wants to stay put. When you leave home for college, you don’t really want to go back and sleep on your parents’ couch. At least I didn’t. And so I think it would kind of feel the same way for Elsbeth. It would be a step backwards for her.”

But the fallout of Elsbeth’s investigation into Wagner for possible corruption—why she came in New York—leads to “a lot of tension” between them in the finale, according to Preston. “There are some trust issues there, and there’s some misunderstanding standing between both of them, I think, and that always makes for good television.”

Elsbeth is still going to be working a case, but she will be affected by what’s going on with Wagner. “She’s grown quite attached to [him] and Officer Blanke [Carra Patterson] and really her whole life in New York, so when suddenly that’s pulled out from her at the end of Episode 9 it leaves her  feeling off of her game,” says Preston. “That’s definitely going to play out a little bit in the finale.”

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'Elsbeth' Star Wendell Pierce Explains Wagner's Major Decision

In the aptly titled “A Fitting Finale,” Laura Benanti guest stars a model at the end of her career, about to do her last catwalk. “She has an ex-husband that she has some conflict with, and on the day of their big fashion show, her ex-boyfriend—who had been a good friend of both hers and her ex-husband—gets murdered. And so the suspicions are pointing towards Laura’s character and possibly her husband,” Preston previews of Elsbeth’s investigation.

André De Shields plays fashion designer Matteo Hart. “He’s a legend, and it was perfect casting for him to be playing this legendary fashion designer. And so it was really wonderful to work with somebody who has such a presence and is so specific and yet so grand,” raves Preston. “I think Elsbeth connected with him because she admires them.”

What are you hoping to see in the finale? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Elsbeth, Season 1 Finale, Thursday, May 23, 9/8c, CBS