[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Matlock Season 1 finale.]
Matlock began and ended with a bang, delivering main plot twists in each the collection premiere and Matlock Season 1 finale that threw the present’s total narrative on its head. Whereas the premiere twist confirmed Kathy Bates‘ Madeline “Matty” Matlock in full management of the narrative, the finale confirmed her shedding it. TV Insider linked with showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman to interrupt down the Season 1 finale, and she or he detailed how the two-part episode units up Matlock Season 2 whereas revealing what burning questions might be answered when the present returns this fall.
Right here’s all the pieces to anticipate from Matlock Season 2.
Olympia will make a troublesome alternative that launches Season 2’s main thriller
Matlock Season 1’s penultimate episode confirmed Matty and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) with their masks totally off. For the primary time, these mates have been speaking to one another with no false pretenses, no pretend accents, no lies. The reality about Matty’s secret identification and her Wellbrexa investigation was defined intimately to Olympia, who had no alternative however to research Matty’s proof that pointed to Olympia’s ex-husband, Julian Jr. (Jason Ritter), stealing the Wellbrexa opioids research that may’ve gotten the drug off the market years earlier. To Olympia’s horror, Julian was, the truth is, responsible.
The lacking Wellbrexa research was hidden in Julian’s security deposit field, to which Olympia received entry with Matty and Edwin’s (Sam Anderson) assist. It was Julian’s emotionally unavailable father, Senior (Beau Bridges), who advised Julian to cover the doc to guard their shopper and the cash they’d make on the Wellbrexa case. He was 26 years outdated when he made that terrible alternative, and his father orchestrated the fireplace drill that gave him the time to steal the research from the legislation agency’s archives.
CBS
Now, Olympia should grapple along with her ex violating each ethical, moral, and authorized code understanding that she’s additionally simply made accomplice on the agency. If her ex-husband goes down for this, it might have critical impacts on the lives of their kids. She additionally has extra skilled stake in what occurs to Jacobson Moore now that she’s a accomplice. She’s now pressured to ask herself if the reality or lies are higher methods to guard her household’s future. That’s the place the drama begins in Matlock Season 2.
Snyder Urman advised TV Insider that the Matlock Season 2 premiere will present Olympia making her resolution on tips on how to deal with the Julian bombshell, and this can launch the first thriller of the second season. It received’t be a straightforward or “fast” resolution, Snyder Urman defined, however the resolution might be made.
“Olympia’s alternative is admittedly going to arrange sure dynamics,” Snyder Urman famous. “There’s a large thriller that’s launched originally of the second season that we are going to be following that does prolong from the primary season. It’s not all of the sudden a model new thriller.” The Wellbrexa case is way from over, and Olympia will proceed to be within the driver’s seat alongside Matty.
Julian Jr. might be pressured to return to Jacobson Moore and “grovel”
CBS
Julian handed in his resignation letter within the finale after he didn’t make accomplice on the agency, however Ritter just isn’t leaving Matlock. The skilled rejection from Julian’s father, in addition to their sordid historical past within the time main as much as and since they conspired to bury the Wellbrexa research, will make Julian wish to create quite a lot of distance between him and his dad.
“There are particular issues that happen” that can power Julian “to do some groveling with a purpose to get again for a selected period of time,” Snyder Urman revealed, including that that return might be “actually, actually tough” for him and can solely put him in one other “actually tough place.”
Alfie’s father will play a serious function
Matty can be coping with the sudden arrival of a person claiming to be Alfie’s father (performed by Niko Nicotera). Extra troubling than his need to be a part of Alfie’s (Aaron D. Harris) life and doubtlessly take him away from Matty and Edwin is the truth that it was Alfie himself who discovered his supposed dad. Alfie’s intelligence, independence, and inquisitive nature are issues his grandparents have fostered in him all through Season 1, however now they face the problem of these traits getting used to query why his father has been saved out of his life all this time. Matty and Alfie’s relationship has all the time been rock strong. Season 2 will discover “what occurs to Matty when Alfie’s mad at her, and the way that feels related or dissimilar to what it was like with Ellie [Marnee Carpenter],” Snyder Urman mentioned.
This could possibly be triggering for Matty, who Snyder Urman famous “had a contentious relationship” with daughter Ellie “by means of her teen years” and into her grownup life. Matty will battle along with her relationship with Alfie shedding its emotional simplicity and steadiness for the primary time.
CBS
That is one thing all dad and mom/dad or mum figures battle with when their kids begin to be free thinkers, however right here there’s the added weight of Alfie being concerned with this high-stakes investigation into his personal mom’s dying. Edwin has feared the emotional impacts this secret mission might have on their grandson all through Season 1. The arrival of Alfie’s father will throw extra warmth onto this, however needless to say we don’t know for certain if Nicotera’s character is, the truth is, Alfie’s dad. This query might be answered by the top of the Season 2 premiere, Snyder Urman confirmed.
Whether or not Nicotera’s character is Alfie’s dad or not, the daddy might be a serious participant all through Season 2. So if it’s not Nicotera, then one other character might be revealed as the true father. On high of this, Olympia didn’t report again to Matty and Edwin’s after investigating her and Julian’s joint checking account like she mentioned she would. Matty trusts that she’ll be in contact, whereas Edwin doubts that she will be trusted. What we all know is that Olympia is conserving the reality about Julian to herself in the intervening time. This, compounded with the arrival of Alfie’s father, will end in Matty’s lack of management. Coping with this growth will create the first battle of the second season.
These items will “destabilize” Matty and make her life extra “chaotic” than it’s ever been earlier than, Snyder Urman mentioned, including, “That’s going to be actually fascinating to observe and see how she behaves and what comes of it, and the brand new areas for drama and comedy that come from that.”
Matty’s relationships with Edwin and Olympia will face new challenges
Robert Voets / CBS
Matlock additionally has no real interest in splitting up Matty and Edwin’s 50-year marriage. Matty’s need to proceed her profession conflicting with Edwin’s need for them to return to retirement in Chicago will power them to determine tips on how to evolve their relationship. “What’s at stake just isn’t who’s leaving,” Snyder Urman defined. “I don’t really feel that. It’s what are we going to do, and the way will we work by means of actually laborious issues, and what’s the compromise? After which from that compromise, from that arduous resolution, new dramatic avenues open up.”
The present’s central love story continues to be Matty and Olympia’s friendship. It’s “an epic love story,” Snyder Urman reiterated. The finale was the “lady loses lady” second, and their friendship was too sustaining for each of them to only stroll away. “There’s going to be push and pulls” as Matty and Olympia attempt to restore their bond, the showrunner defined. With Matty’s secret out and Olympia’s new secret in, the questions of “can they discover their approach again” and “can they get again” to their “magical” dynamic from Season 1 will “be quite a lot of what the second season goes to be constructing,” Snyder Urman defined.
Matty’s need to return to her legislation profession can be largely pushed by her connection along with her Jacobson Moore workforce. Working with Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis) has reawakened Matty’s ambition simply as a lot as working with Olympia has, and she or he’s not prepared to surrender her probability to return to the profession that office sexual harassment and motherhood pressured her to forged apart all these years in the past. Matty needs her third act to proceed, however identical to all the pieces in Matlock, it’s going to be stuffed with sudden twists.
Matlock, Season 2 Premiere, Fall 2025, CBS