‘Matlock’ Finale: Skye P. Marshall & Jason Ritter Explain Big Wellbrexa Twists & What’s Next (VIDEO)

The Wellbrexa cover-up was exposed, and federal arrests were made in the Matlock Season 2 finale on Thursday, April 23, on CBS. This finale brings the Wellbrexa storyline to a close, as previously promised by series creator Jennie Snyder Urman, and a new mystery will be introduced in the first episode of Matlock Season 3, premiering midseason in 2027. Matlock stars Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter came to the TV Insider studio in New York City to discuss the finale in depth. Warning: Matlock Season 2 finale spoilers ahead.

The duo that plays ex-spouses Olympia and Julian tell us they are not a “safe space” for spoilers on set, so they didn’t know the finale twists about Senior (Beau Bridges) and Eva (Justina Machado) until the table read for the episode. Kathy Bates, however, knew in Season 1 because of her dual role as star and executive producer. The two-hour finale revealed that Senior knew about Matty, Olympia, and Julian’s secret investigation, and he was faking his dementia to set a trap for them. Eva found out what Senior did with the Wellbrexa study years prior, so part of her anger at him has been because she was implicated in his crimes because of the knowledge she didn’t want to receive. She went along with her ex’s plot to save himself in order to “survive him.”

Senior nearly succeeded, but Matty Matlock had one more trick up her sleeve. During a tense scene in an elevator, when Senior basically gave a villainous victory speech, Matty slipped a recorder pen into his pocket. It was a nod to Season 1, when Matty used the same tool to spy on Olympia. She gave the recordings to FBI agent Lida Gutierrez (Gina Rodriguez), and Senior was arrested in front of the entire firm. But it wasn’t just Senior.

Their findings revealed that all of the partners at Jacobson Moore, except for Olympia, knew about the Wellbrexa coverup. Julian wasn’t getting immunity when he helped nab his dad and the partners, so he was arrested with the rest of them. He said it was “worth it.” Now, the father and son are heading to prison together, and their trials will likely be depicted in Season 3. Matty and Olympia, meanwhile, are leaving Jacobson Moore and starting their own law firm. They also had Edwin (Sam Anderson) reveal Matty’s true identity to Sarah (Leah Lewis) and Mrs. Belvin (Patricia Belcher).

“I had a lot of theories. I never foresaw Senior faking his dementia,” Ritter tells us in the video interview above.

“That was wild!” Marshall agrees.

Michael Yarish / CBS

“That blew my mind,” Ritter adds, noting that the Eva twist “also blew my mind because this whole season it seemed like Eva and Senior have been at odds and fighting. I never would have guessed that part of the reason she’s so upset with him is because she’s immediately implicated in this plot that she didn’t actually have anything to do with initially, but now she’s culpable, so what a trap he set for her.”

Related

'Matlock' Boss Explains Wellbrexa Ending & Teases New Mystery in Season 3

Ritter and Marshall discuss how difficult it is for Matty, Olympia, and Julian to stay committed to justice while nearly everyone around them caves to immorality to line their pockets and save their skins.

“I think they both were shocked by how far the rot goes, in terms of they thought they were taking down one person and his assistants,” Ritter says, “but the fact that they all knew — and this is a place that they have both been working for years and years and trying to work their way up. To find that the people you put on the top of your pedestal maybe were all in on this obviously morally bankrupt act is shocking, but also satisfying to get them all in one.”

“Doing what’s right and doing what’s hard are usually the same thing, and we first have to take accountability,” Marshall says. “Once you’re on the other side of that, that is what makes the cost of what the consequences will be so much heavier. [Julian has] to do what’s right, but it’s also the hardest thing because it’s [his] father, and vice versa when [Olympia] had to hold you accountable, and vice versa when Matty Matlock having to choose this mission over spending time at home. We’ve all had to give something up. It’s cost us something. And I hope that inspires more people to sit in that state of discomfort when it’s time to make the right decision, no matter who it may hurt.”

“I was actually nervous initially when I saw that Julian was going for immunity,” Ritter admits. “There was something so satisfying to me that Julian accepts his role in this and allows himself to get arrested with [Senior] … I really appreciated the way they found a way for all of these characters to move forward with as much integrity as possible.”

Learn more about the Matlock finale and the stars’ hopes for Season 3 in the full video interview above.

Matlock, Season 3 Premiere, 2027, CBS