‘Elsbeth’: Sarah Steele Returning as ‘The Good Fight’s Marissa Gold in Season 3

Elsbeth is staging a Good Fight reunion in Season 3. Sarah Steele will reprise her role as Marissa Gold in the third season of The Good Wife spinoff, premiering this October on CBS.

Marissa was a Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart investigator in The Good Fight, but she’ll have a new job in politics in Elsbeth, according to Entertainment Weekly. The episode is titled “Poetic Justice,” and Marissa will appear as a campaign manager for NYC mayoral candidate Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez). Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) and Marissa will cross paths at a charity event.

Elsbeth Season 2 staged its first Good Wife reunion when bringing in Christian Borle as a guest star. Here’s everything we know about Elsbeth Season 3, including more guest stars and plot details.

Who is in the Elsbeth Season 3 cast?

 

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In addition to Steele (seen in character above, with Preston), Annaleigh Ashford and William Jackson Harper will appear in Season 3. Preston revealed their castings in Elsbeth Season 3 during a CBS press conference on Thursday, September 4. Ashford will appear in this season’s Halloween episode. They join Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Andy Richter, Lindsay Mendez, Julia Fox, and David Cross on the growing list of Season 3 guest stars. TV Insider announced Cross’ casting on August 13.

Preston and Wendell Pierce will return as series regulars for the third season, while former regular Carra Patterson will now be a recurring guest star.

Elsbeth Season 3 previously confirmed Colbert’s casting as a fictional late-night host named Scotty Bristol on August 25. Along with the first look at Colbert in the premiere were the first photos of Preston and Pierce back in their series regular roles, as well as Sedaris, Richter, and Mendez’s characters. Those four will guest star in the premiere, and Cross will appear in Episode 2.

Here’s the official storyline for Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 1, titled “Yes, And…”: “Elsbeth dives into the world of late-night comedy when backstage tensions rise between a talk show host (Stephen Colbert), his head writer Laurel (Amy Sedaris) and her on-air sidekick husband, Mickey (Andy Richter). Also, Elsbeth meets a new police officer (Lindsay Mendez) who is an aspiring stand-up comic when off the clock.”

What’s most interesting about the first photos from the new season is the appearance of Marcia DeBonis in a photo with Colbert. DeBonis played Sheryl Jacobs in Season 2, whom Elsbeth met during that wellness retreat and shared deep personal details about her past in Chicago. In the photo, below, Sheryl is seemingly being interviewed by Colbert’s Scotty Bristol on his late-night show.

Colbert is playing the host of a fictional late-night talk show called Way Late With Scotty Bristol. Elsbeth guest stars typically join the fun to play the killer of the week, so maybe Season 3 will poke some fun at The Late Show‘s cancellation by having Colbert’s character murder a network executive who threatened to cancel his show. It wouldn’t be the first time Elsbeth has had a meta episode about a TV star killing their boss over a decision that impacted their career (check out the Laurie Metcalf episode in Season 2 for an example of that).

Sedaris and Richter’s characters are connected to Colbert’s. Sedaris will play Laurel Hammond-Muntz, the headstrong and devoted head writer and executive producer of the popular late-night talk show Way Late. Richter will play Mickey Muntz, the hilarious but long-suffering sidekick to Scotty Bristol. He’s also Laurel’s husband.

Mendez may have closer ties to Preston’s Elsbeth. She will play Officer Grace Hackett, a hard-working officer and an aspiring stand-up comic when off the clock. When she teams up with Elsbeth for a case focused on the world of comedy, her knowledge of the business comes in handy.

Cross will play Nolan Hurst. After the purchase of a rare doll on the black market turns deadly, Nolan, a hapless insider trader fresh from a stint in prison, winds up taking hostages in one of New York’s best toy stores.

Fox will play Raquel Drabowski in Season 3, per Variety. Raquel is a “Staten Island widow who transformed herself into an upscale NYC ‘Grief Influencer’ and reality star on the hit dating series ‘Black Veil.’”

Ashford will appear in a special Halloween-themed episode playing a murderous suburban housewife. Harper will portray the founding director of a New York City poetry journal, desperate for funding. Air dates for both episodes will be announced soon.

Michael Emerson’s (Preston’s husband) time on Elsbeth is officially done after his character, Judge Milton Crawford, was killed off in Season 2 Episode 18. Tolins said that the trial of his killer, Delia Kirby (Meredith Holzman), is not going to be part of Season 3.

It’s “a pretty open-and-shut case,” Tolins told us, given that Delia killed him in cold blood in front of scores of witnesses. It’s not like he didn’t have it coming, but as Elsbeth cried in response, they would’ve eventually gotten the villainous judge arrested in the end. Elsbeth’s presence at this murder will continue to impact the plot, however, despite the fact that her presence was a mere coincidence.

Ben Levi Ross will likely continue his guest star role as Elsbeth’s son, Teddy. And here’s hoping that Elsbeth’s sweet romance with Ioan Gruffudd‘s Angus has the chance to continue in Season 3. They amicably parted ways after the Valentine’s Day episode, but he was mentioned again in the Season 2 finale when Elsbeth confirmed that they’re still in touch. With Patterson’s departure, it seems unlikely that Sullivan Jones will be back as her love interest/roommate, Cameron. But perhaps he’ll move to D.C. with Kaya for her training, thus keeping the door open to their relationship developing offscreen.

This show is known for its litany of exciting guest stars. A big batch of them appeared in the Season 2 finale for a Chicago-inspired rendition of the “Cell Block Tango.” Tolins said the show is interested in bringing back guest stars. Elsbeth being imprisoned herself was “a one-off” moment, Tolins explained, “but we are not done looking at what happens to some of our people after Elsbeth seems to be finished with them in their original episode.”

“We’ve talked quite a bit on the show about how many of these people actually are going to ever face real jail time or justice,” he added. “They’re so connected, they’ve got so much money and so many ways to delay punishment, so I think that’s something that’ll always come back.”

When does Elsbeth Season 3 premiere?

Elsbeth Season 3 premieres on a special night, Sunday, October 12, at 9:30/8:30c on CBS. It will air after the Matlock Season 2 premiere at 8:30/7:30c. Both shows will air two episodes in one week. Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 2 comes out on Thursday, October 16, at 10/9c.

The series will continue to air new episodes on Thursdays at 10/9c after that. Matlock Season 2 Episode 2 precedes Elsbeth on October 16 at 9/8c.

Why did Carra Patterson leave Elsbeth?

Showrunner Jonathan Tolins told TV Insider that they “don’t want to make too much of” Kaya’s exit “because she’s coming back. The character’s not leaving the world of the show. She’s coming back, just not every day.” Her departure was staged by having Captain Wagner (Pierce) secretly recommend the recently promoted detective to a special task force. She got the job without even applying, taking her dreams of being a detective to the next level. Training is beginning immediately in Washington, D.C., prompting Kaya’s quick move.

Season 2 introduced some new companion police officers for Elsbeth’s investigations. Tolins assures that they’re not interested in replacing Kaya altogether. They’re more interested in rotating partners for Elsbeth.

“I don’t want to shoehorn another character into exactly the same role that Kaya played in Elsbeth’s life,” Tolins told TV Insider. “I do think that Elsbeth usually must be working with a uniformed officer because she’s not a detective. She can’t just go to these places without someone. So we’ve started introducing some new characters. We had B as Nikki Reynolds and Ethan Slater as Chandler, and I think we’ll keep introducing some more.”

Stay tuned here as we continue to report the latest on Elsbeth‘s third season.

Elsbeth, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, October 12, 9:30/8:30c, Regular Time Period Premiere, Thursday, October 16, 10/9c, CBS