Why ‘Matlock’ Is Moving to Midseason for Season 3

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.”

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“[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 2 Finale, Thursday, April 23, 9/8c, CBS