‘Elsbeth’: Carrie Preston Teases Patti LuPone Singing in Season 3 Finale

Thanks to its New York City set, Elsbeth can’t get enough of casting Broadway icons. Patti LuPone is the latest icon of the stage to come and play (bill) in the CBS procedural, and her episode will also feature another Broadway star, Shrinking‘s Michael Urie. Carrie Preston told TV Insider what to expect in the Elsbeth Season 3 finale at CBS Fest on Wednesday, April 15, in Los Angeles.

Here’s the logline for the Elsbeth Season 3 finale, “That’s All,” airing on Thursday, May 21: ” A minor royal’s mysterious death at New York’s most legendary hotel brings Elsbeth into a world of faded elegance, cabaret, and murder.”

LuPone guest stars as legendary cabaret performer Ruby Lane, with Urie as philanthropist Monty Blakemont III. And yes, LuPone will be singing in the episode, Preston confirmed.

“In the finale, we have Patti LuPone playing a murderess cabaret singer, and so we get to see Elsbeth go head-to-head with someone like that,” Preston shared. “Elsbeth does get serenaded by this woman, and so we do get to have Patti LuPone singing to me, which is really amazing.”

Elsbeth has already been renewed for Season 4 and will air one hour earlier this fall at 9/8c, taking Matlock‘s place (Matlock Season 3 will premiere midseason). Preston said that they tie up all the loose ends by the finale’s ending, and that Carra Patterson will return as Kaiya before the season is over.

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“As far as where [Elsbeth is] going, we don’t end on a huge cliffhanger,” Preston said. “There’s some wonderful things that get wrapped up in a really beautiful way at the end of the season instead.”

There are four more episodes before the Elsbeth Season 3 finale, and they guest star Griffin Dunne, Anna Camp, Constance Wu, and Tracey Ullman.

TV Insider exclusively announced Ullman’s upcoming return in a brand new role. She’ll appear in the penultimate episode of Season 3, airing on May 14.

This time around, Ullman plays a veteran gossip columnist, Betty Heymouth. Betty is a veteran gossip columnist who thrives on the power of knowing other people’s secrets, but would do anything to protect her own.

“We wanted to celebrate the time-honored TV procedural tradition of bringing back former guest stars in entirely new roles — and who better than Tracey Ullman?” Elsbeth executive producer/showrunner, Jonathan Tolins, explained. “She’s legendary for her ability to transform, and everyone at Elsbeth was thrilled she was willing to come play with us again.”

Elsbeth, Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS

— Reporting by Erin Maxwell