Elsbeth Tascioni is a bit of an open wound in Elsbeth Season 3, according to Carrie Preston. The lawyer turned NYPD consultant detective is an open book when it comes to her feelings, and she’s uniquely skilled at sensing when things aren’t right with her loved ones, but she still has things she keeps inside. The reason for her move from Chicago to New York, for example, was a tightly kept secret until a pivotal scene midway through Season 2 of the CBS procedural. After witnessing the murder of Judge Milton Crawford (Michael Emerson, Preston’s husband) in the Season 2 finale, Preston tells TV Insider that Elsbeth’s struggling in Season 3, premiering Sunday, October 12, at 9:30/8:30c.
“That’s something that she gets easily brought right back to. If something gets brought up that has anything to do with him or anything to do with a crime that she hasn’t been able to solve or anything like that, she goes right back there. But that’s Elsbeth,” Preston says. “She’s very connected to her emotions and to her intellect. She’s very in her body, and so she’s going to carry that throughout the season. We’re going to start to see some interesting things that are associated with that murder that are going to come up in Season 3.”
Crawford was shot and killed by the woman he framed for murder, Delia Kirby. The crooked judge was on the cusp of a Supreme Court nomination and almost got away with two murders until Elsbeth caught wise to his misdeeds. Before Elsbeth could bring him to justice, Delia took matters into her own hands, killing the judge on the steps of a New York City courthouse just as he was maniacally declaring that he was unbeatable. Elsbeth was traumatized by seeing it happen. While the quirky character feels everything deeply, Preston warns that she’s still trying to downplay how this Crawford ordeal affected her. And let’s not forget that his death also led to Elsbeth being sent to prison on a misdemeanor charge — a form of retaliation from one of Crawford’s judge friends.
“Let’s just say that it’s going to rear its ugly head a little bit about six episodes in,” Preston reveals of Crawford’s postmortem impact. “We’re going to meet somebody [who] is associated with Judge Crawford.”
This unforgettable experience hasn’t changed Elsbeth’s approach to her work. “Elsbeth’s tenacious. She’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to her, what we call her Spidey sense, her intuition,” Preston says. “I feel like all of her chakras are open. She leads with her solar plexus. She just gets in there and hones in on the criminals. And her curious mind is what keeps her on her toes and keeps them on their back foot because she’s just so smart. So I don’t think it’s getting in the way of her solving the crimes, but it is something that I think she has to compartmentalize sometimes in order to keep going.”
The absence of her best friend, former NYPD detective Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson), isn’t helping on that front. With the help of Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce), Kaya landed her dream job and had to leave for training in Washington, D.C. Viewers will get an update on Kaya’s new era of detective work early on in the season, and Patterson will be back as a recurring guest star throughout Season 3, with her first return set for Episode 3 (see their reunion in the photo above). Elsbeth’s definitely more sensitive with Kaya gone, but Preston says that Elsbeth sees herself in Kaya as she ventures off into the next phase of her life and career.
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“It was tough to lose her friend, someone that she built trust with, and she just felt secure around,” Preston explains. “Now that person’s not there, but at the same time, she, like a child, wanted to see her blossom. Elsbeth reinvented her own life and blossomed that way, and she wants her friend to have that same experience. So she’s selfless in that way. She misses her, but she wishes her well.”
That won’t stop her from frequently seeking updates about Kaya’s work, even when she’s not supposed to know about it.
“She does have problems with boundaries,” Preston says with a laugh, “And so she keeps learning about how to give people their space and yet still show them her love.”
As for Captain Wagner, “He misses [Kaya], too,” Preston says, adding that the Elsbeth and Wagner bond “is really strong this season.”
The first season depicted the NYPD boss and the new consultant frequently at odds because Elsbeth was keeping her purpose for being at the precinct from him. The falling out that followed led to a period of rediscovery for the pair. Now, they’re a completely united front in Season 3.
“Even if it seems like she’s going out on a limb, he’ll let her go out on that limb,” Preston says. “He will bring her back in if she goes way too far out, but he knows that her success rate is pretty high, and it makes his department look good when Elsbeth does well. So he wants to support her in that, and he’s trying to put partners with her that can help facilitate that.”
This is where the rotating officer escorts come in. In addition to returning cast Ethan Slater (Officer Chandler), B (Officer Reynolds), Danny Mastrogiorgio (Mullen), Daniel Oreskes (Buzz Fleming), and Micaela Diamond (Detective Samantha Edwards), viewers will also meet a few new officers in Elsbeth’s exploits. The first is Lindsay Mendez, who appears in the premiere as Officer Grace Hackett (Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, and Andy Richter are the premiere’s other guest stars). Another is Angus O’Brien as Officer Summerville, who appears in Episode 2.
“No one’s going to fill Kaya’s shoes,” Preston admits, “but Elsbeth can’t walk onto a crime scene without a uniformed officer with her; she’s not an officer. So it is important to have people [who] will pinch-hit for Kaya.”
Elsbeth, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, October 12, 9:30/8:30c, Regular Time Period Premiere, Thursday, October 16, 10/9c, CBS