‘Matlock’: Will Olympia Side With Julian or Matty? Skye P. Marshall & Jason Ritter Tease Season 2

Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter didn’t expect their Matlock Season 1 finale ending. In fact, Marshall thought the safety deposit box reveal was going to look a lot different and establish a different mystery. What they know for sure is, Ritter’s character is going to have much higher stakes in Season 2, premiering this fall on CBS (see the fall 2025 schedule here). And Marshall’s Olympia isn’t going to let the father of her children take the fall for the Wellbrexa scandal, not when she knows there were bigger “dictators” at play in the concealing of the all-important smoking gun in Matty’s (Kathy Bates) investigation.

Marshall and Ritter’s final scene together in the Matlock Season 1 finale showed Olympia discovering the Wellbrexa study in Julian’s safety deposit box (the bank employee who helped her open it was their director, Kat Coiro). When Julian showed up, his ex-wife made him come clean. He confessed to being instructed to hide the study by his emotionally distant father, Julian Sr. (Beau Bridges). Julian was crumbling under the pressure to please his father, so he went along with the illegal act to appease him.

It’s haunted him ever since; he begged Olympia not to hold his biggest moment of weakness against him and promised he’s changed. Being denied a partner position at the law firm by his own father was the nail in the coffin of Julian’s pursuit of his father’s approval, but the truth of his past is threatening to come out and upend his entire life and Olympia’s.

Here, Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter share their reactions to the Matlock Season 1 finale and tease Olympia’s fight for justice to come in Matlock Season 2 with TV Insider’s Michael Maloney.

I should have guessed Julian was the guilty party because we already have such an investment from knowing you, Jason, from other series, from loving you, from loving your dad [John Ritter]. It had more of an impact when it was you. How did you feel when you learned it was you?

Jason Ritter: I was so nervous, and I know that that means a lot of stuff is coming my way to do next season. It’s going to get complicated and painful and messy, and I just cannot wait for the journey, but I was surprised and also, I totally understood it made sense for the character.

It’s hard to be objective, but you agree with those reasons Julian had for doing what he did?

Ritter: Yes. That’s totally valid. I read so many different theories. Julian’s a guy that people have complicated feelings about…

Certainly, now!

Ritter: We all root for Olympia, and Julian, well, we’ve seen some of his foibles throughout the season, so it’s an interesting [dilemma]. It could go either way.

Olympia thought Julian was in the clear, and then the bank employee had to say, “Do you want to see the safety deposit?”

Ritter: I know.

Skye P. Marshall: And that was our amazing director Kat Coiro who has directed multiple episodes throughout the season, including the pilot, the finale. She played the banker.

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She’s a good actress.

Marshall: She’s a great actress. The wig and the glasses, it finished me. When I came around the corner, I lost it. That was so much fun working with her. And I genuinely thought that the safety deposit box was going to be empty for the audience. I thought that I was going to see it. I’m glad that the audience got to find out [what was inside it].

Where do you think you guys go from here going into next season?

Marshall: I think we’ll continue to do more cases [of the week] like the one we did about mold [Episode 4, titled “The Rabbit and the Hawk”]. People were like mold? I didn’t think a legal case about mold would be interesting, but it was. Also, we get such great, guest stars that come in every episode that, you know, we get to explore so many criminal law procedures. I’ve learned a lot about class action suits and corporate law from this show.

The balance between the overall story and the case of the week. I go, Oh yeah, that’s right, we’ve got to get back to that.

Marshall: They mirror each other. I’m so excited to see, based on where the characters are, what kind of cases are going to reflect what we’re feeling.

How is Olympia going to choose between Julian and Matty?

Marshall: I don’t think she is. I think since day one of the pilot of Matlock, Olympia has been laser beam focused on justice. Matty has a case. There’s a victim involved. Let’s get to business but also Julian has a dictator, right? So, who told you to do this and who told him to do this? I think that Olympia, she represents people who don’t have the skill or the will to get justice for themselves, and she will find out who’s responsible and then get the class action from the big boys. I think she is going to go for the big fish and not let all of this fall on my ex-husband.

So maybe someday you two will get back together?

Marshall: Maybe if I win a huge case, you never know, a little champagne, a little toast, a little kiss. The fans are hopeful for it.

Matlock, Season 2 Premiere, Fall 2025, CBS

— Reporting by Michael Maloney