How the Matlock Finale Will Set Up ‘Amazing Guest Stars’ for Season 2

Matlock is getting ready to wrap up its first season — but the upcoming finale features even bigger twists and paves the way for some intriguing guest stars in season 2.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Skye P. Marshall teased her reaction to the season finale, saying, “I am not even exaggerating. When I read the finale script, I was like, ‘Here is take off. Here we go.’ And I mean take off as our characters are fully developed [by the end]. Everyone has their own angle, their own goal and their own ambition — whether it aligns with their original alliance or not.”

Marshall praised Matlock for “shooting for the stars.”

“Based on how season 1 ended, I’m pretty sure we’re going to get some amazing guest stars to just continue where this is all going to make it all make sense,” she continued. “With the success of Matlock, we got a lot of people’s attention. I’m really excited to see what other incredible talent wants to come and explore these other characters.”

She concluded: “I’m really excited that the rocket is taking off. I love that. And whatever you think is going to be revealed, the twist is going to have you turned around the same way the pilot ending did.”

Matlock, which premiered in September 2024, follows a wealthy retired lawyer named Madeline Kingston (Kathy Bates) who pretends to be a poor widower named Matty Matlock to get a job at a firm. As it turns out, Matty thinks someone at the company is complicit in the opioid epidemic that resulted in her daughter’s death.

The plan to take down Jacobson Moore doesn’t exactly go as planned since Matty finds herself growing closer to Olympia (Marshall), Billy (David Del Rio), Sarah (Leah Lewis) and more of her coworkers that don’t seem to be aware of the corruption at the firm.

After Matlock was renewed for a second season, director and executive producer Kat Coiro previewed how the show keeps building on that narrative shakeup.

“What’s so brilliant about the show and Jennie [Snyder Urman’s] writing is that it’s very incremental and character-based. The twists have a lot to do with psychology rather than relying on big external factors or plot shifts,” Coiro explained in November 2024. “You get so invested in these characters that small revelations become really exciting.”

Coiro noted that the CBS series isn’t relying on just one storytelling device.

“It’s easier to get away with that the more invested everybody becomes in the characters. Definitely the twist in the pilot was the biggest,” she noted. “Because you think you’re watching a pretty standard procedural about a fish out of water in a law firm. Then suddenly you introduce this story line that now has to carry two plots and two different sets of characters through every episode.”

At the time, Coiro praised the show’s writers’ room for finding ways to keep each episode feeling fresh, adding, “I think subtlety of the progression and the fact that it’s not moving forward at an incredibly rapid rate is part of what makes it sustainable.”

Matlock airs on CBS Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET and is currently streaming on Paramount+.