Why ‘Matlock’ Is Moving to Midseason for Season 3
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What To Know
- Matlock Season 3 will premiere in midseason for the 2026-2027 broadcast year.
- Series creator Jennie Snyder Urman explains the move ahead of the two-hour Matlock Season 2 finale on April 23.
- The finale will conclude the Wellbrexa storyline and serve as a complete reset for the series.
Matlock is moving to a midseason premiere for Season 3 in the 2026-2027 broadcast schedule, but this isn’t a cause for concern. Series creator and executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman tells TV Insider that she asked for the move from a fall to midseason premiere herself, and her decision was prompted by how they “really landed the plane” in the Matlock Season 2 finale that will serve as a complete “reset” for the series.
Matlock Season 2 ends with a two-hour finale on Thursday, April 23, starting at 9/8c on CBS. Urman promised earlier this season that the Wellbrexa storyline would conclude by the end of Season 2. Once the Wellbrexa case is closed, a new mystery will be introduced in the Season 3 premiere that will be brand new territory for the series while still feeling familiar to the first two seasons.
Urman said she needed ample time with her writers to map out this new mystery, so she had a meeting with CBS asking if Matlock Season 3 could be moved to midseason. (Matlock was renewed in January.)
“I asked for it with the network. We had a talk,” Urman tells TV Insider. “I just feel like we had so much stuff to think about because we really landed the plane on this and we really thought that was important because we didn’t want to keep dragging out the same story and the characters have to get to someplace real emotionally. So we really, when we took this two-hour finale and really paid a lot of things off, what came with that was I’m going to need time after that to really build the architecture so that we have it for the next seasons. I’m excited about it, but I am also grateful because we needed a little bit of time.”
The Jane the Virgin creator acknowledges that some viewers may be disappointed by the long wait between seasons.
“Sad for audiences, but actually really good for me and the writers because I want us to plot this new mystery and make sure it’s airtight,” she says. “We had a lot of pieces going in, so we really had to create this new piece of it. I feel lucky that the network’s giving us time to get it right because I don’t want the quality to drop.”
“[It’s a] big reset, so we have an extra long writer’s room before we go to camera, and I really want to do it right,” Urman adds. “The quality is everything to me.”
Here’s the logline for the two-part Matlock finale: “The team confronts an unexpected final hurdle they need to overcome to bring Senior to justice for his role in the Wellbrexa cover up. Meanwhile, they defend an airport ramp operator accused of safety negligence in the death of a passenger.”
Buckle up for a wild finale. After this, everything will change.
Matlock, Season 3 Premiere, 2027, CBS
Conversation30 Comments
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C
It’s a terrible decision about the move to mid-season! People are going to forget about this great show!
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L
Not if they keep tantalizing the viewers with advertising tips on the new storyline for the next season!! You could stretch that all the way through to the opening. Use Kathy Bates!
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L
Glad to hear it was requested rather than CBS doing it. REALLY looking forward to the new material in addition to the finale!!!
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N
I do hope they put to rest this Wellbrexa story line. It's getting tedious. Opioids are still being prescribes to patients in the real world. So even if the study was not hidden, the difference would have been a more strict regulation of opioids, not that they would have been taken off the market.
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S
Can't wait until Thursday. Will still be here when you return in January. What a great show and wonderful actors and writers. We can't wait!!!
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6
Hoping people don't loose interest in meantime. So many times shows die because too lon
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B
Really love the show and all the characters, keep going guys.
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T
Happy fur Jason Ritter. Have met him couple times nice guy his Dad would be proud.
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P
Me too. I loved watching his dad doing Three's Company. Jason was good in the sitcom The Class but it only lasted 1 season.
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P
It'll be a sacrifice to wait that long. But, I'm sure Matlock will be well worth the wait ! Time will tell
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A
Matty has promised Edwin that once she has been able to hold the law firm and Senior responsible for the opioid cover up she will leave the law firm. Edwin has pressured her at least a few times to forget about taking Senior down and to quit. If the Wellbrexa case is closed and Matty stays at the law firm what is that going to do to her marriage?
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J
At the rate the story is going, it’s going to be an ex-partner or a deceased partner who was really the guilty top boss and not senior. And If it’s Senior who goes to prison, courtesy of everyone, wouldn’t it be awkward if the setting is still the law office?
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6
All I gotta say is "watch out fans!" Cause when things like this happen in a series, it usually takes on a whole new life nothing like the original, and many original characters are sent walking and the whole dynamics of the original series takes 0n an entirely new theme. CBS is known for doing this to shows and viewers tend to notice and ratings fall and BOOM! The show is dead just like that and the networks don't care or listen to the fans either. Let's hope they keep it the
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C
I still loved it. Most things with Kathy Bates but now also this wonderful cast!
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T
This show is dragging on and CBS can’t get organized. I think I am done with the show!
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G
Kathy Bates make up needs to make her look alive
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A
I hate that Matlock will be back in 2027 . I loved this show & my mom does too
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A
What happens with Matlock and her family members:
husband, move to San Francisco, grandson and his father???
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S
I never want to die before Matlock ends forever. I love the cast and Kathy Bated rocks.
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I
Loved the season finale and they opened a door (literally) for a new beginning. I hope they also bring over Billy’s replacement, too.
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L
When exactly does it come back on
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G
i completely lost interest in this program, deleted all recordings will not watch anymore. Kathy Bates & the actor that plays her husband are annoying
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P
😂 😂 You're ridiculous. That show is the best!
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B
It might also have something to do with Nashville 911 beating the heck out of it every week of the season. Matlock viewers grew tired of the same old storyline with the same old character. Nashville 911 is one of the best new series of the new series of 2025-26.
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M
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF !! I NEVER SAID, I WAS TIERED !!
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P
Matlock 3.88 million vs Nashville 3.41 million is not beating the heck out of anything.18-49 viewers are the exact same. If they stick with 16 episodes for season 3, they can do all starting in January-April.
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T
Why 18 to 49. I'm
A boomer my generation watched shows like Matlock. I don't think 18 year olds do
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P
That's just how they do ratings. Commercials are usually geared toward an 18-49 demographic.
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L
I'm a retired paramedic and not even remotely interested in Nashville 911. I prefer shows with plot twists, and things that really make you think. Matlock, all the way!
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T
Nashviille is over rated. Kust another 911 show
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