CBS’ Matlock Series Premiere Features Plot Twist Involving Kathy Bates

The series premiere of CBS’ reboot of Matlock featured a surprising twist involving Kathy Bates‘ character — but how will that continue to play out?

During the sneak peek of the series, which aired on Sunday, September 22, Bates’ character Madeline “Matty” Matlock was introduced as a former lawyer with the same last name as the iconic Matlock series from the ’80s. Matty tried to get hired at a prestigious law firm after her husband cheated on her and died, which left her to take care of her grandson on their own.

Warning: Spoilers below for the series premiere of Matlock.

The last few minutes of the premiere, however, revealed that Matty was lying about her identity (her name is actually Madeline Kingston) as a ploy to get a job at the law firm she thinks is responsible for her daughter’s death. Leah Lewis, who plays Sarah in the upcoming CBS series, broke down to Us Weekly what the big reveal means for the rest of the season.

“I would love it if Sarah got to debunk Maddie. Because I think out of everyone sniffing around, it would be her,” Lewis teased during an exclusive interview with Us. “It’s so funny because Sarah always calls out the thing that no one wants to say.”

Sarah is thrown for a loop when Matty is hired to work on Olympia’s (Skye P. Marshall) team.

“She struggles a bit with the age gap and she’s very like, ‘OK, who is this older person that is just doing all the assignments that Sarah’s worked her whole life to do?’ So she kind of cops this attitude about her,” Lewis explained. “But if Sarah were to say something, people would probably think she’s just competitive and anxious.”

Lewis doesn’t think anyone would believe Sarah if she figured out the truth about Matty, adding, “If Sarah was like, ‘Hey, check out all this information,’ then she would just get told, ‘Oh, that’s Sarah being Sarah again.’ She over analyzes everything and that’s also part of what makes her feel different at the job.”

Despite Matty keeping this major secret from everyone, her friendships with Sarah, Billy (David Del Rio) and the others will continue to deepen.

“When Matty comes into the firm as well, [Sarah] ends up meeting someone who weirdly enough has a patience for the way that she acts,” Lewis noted. “But [Matty] also has a really loving way of teaching her a lesson and kind of calling her out. When Matty comes into this law firm and starts talking to people, it completely flips people on the other side of their head. Because [people like Sarah] never really dealt with someone who is so understanding yet. She’s whip smart and can keep up with the pace — but she is someone who brings out the best in them before they even realize it.”

Lewis got to share a lot of scenes with Bates on Matlock, which was an honor for her. “When [Kathy] arrives and the way that she devours a script before she even comes onto set — she’s a walking cinematic Hollywood documentary,” she gushed. “I’m like, ‘Wow, everything you do is so present and so intentional.’ She could be so tender and yet so cutting [as her character] at the same time. Just getting to work with her makes my job so incredibly easy.”

As Matlock finds its audience on CBS, Lewis is excited for what is still to come for Sarah.

“You meet Sarah as this lone wolf. She later realizes that wolves don’t really work alone — they need to be in a pack to thrive,” she teased to Us. “You’ll start to see that in all aspects of her life. She starts to learn a lot about what it’s really like to experience being human. There’s not just one way.”

New episodes of Matlock airs Thursdays starting October 17 at 9 p.m. ET during CBS’ official premiere week.