Elsbeth followers, put together to welcome the main woman again to primetime within the 2025 TV schedule, as a result of the Season 2 winter premiere is sort of right here! And very like the season premiere with Nathan Lane, CBS’ hit drama recruited a visitor star famend for his comedy to play a villain. Eric McCormack, who starred in practically 250 episodes of beloved sitcom Will & Grace throughout greater than twenty years, is on board as a foul man, and showrunner Jonathan Tolins defined to CinemaBlend why he was the precise man for the job.
McCormack visitor stars within the Season 2 winter premiere on Thursday, January 30 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, referred to as “Unalive and Nicely,” and he is undoubtedly not enjoying a sitcom type of character this time round. As charismatic wellness founder Tom Murphey, he catches the attention of Elsbeth Tascioni throughout the investigation into the loss of life of a younger man, and never in the best way that any dangerous man on Elsbeth ought to need to catch her eye! (Firefighters, however…)
And with “Unalive and Nicely” as the primary episode following the autumn finale that featured The Conners star Laurie Metcalf as a killer, followers can have religion that Tolins is aware of what he is doing in casting sitcom stars for darker roles. (You’ll be able to stream Metcalf’s episode now with a Paramount+ subscription.) The showrunner defined why Eric McCormack was the right match for the winter premiere, saying:
Eric’s a extremely good actor, and also you additionally consider he is somebody who might function within the wellness area, as a result of he is so match and trim and charming. We do very nicely with actors who’ve some comedian sensibility, and Eric McCormack is a grasp TV comic. Additionally, what’s so nice about it, I feel, is that you just get to see shocking depth and scariness coming from him in that episode. He is really very chilling within the half. You completely consider why he’s profitable at what he does and the way folks discover him charming, and the way he is in a position to manipulate folks, however you additionally discover him scary. I feel followers of his are going to be actually impressed by what he does in it.
Eric McCormack hasn’t solely labored in sitcoms over time regardless of being finest often called a part of the Will & Grace forged. He dipped into sci-fi for streamers with a Netflix subscription with all three seasons of Vacationers earlier than it was cancelled in 2019. He additionally starred in TNT’s Notion for all three seasons and, most not too long ago, had a key function in Hulu’s The Different Black Woman.
Plus, Elsbeth herself may not be within the temper for laughs within the winter premiere, as the autumn finale ended together with her previous from Chicago resurfacing. She’d gone to nice lengths to maintain folks in her new life from studying any soiled particulars, even dodging questions from her beloved son after Teddy’s shock arrival. After clarifying whether or not Elsbeth followers want any The Good Spouse or The Good Combat background for this storyline about her previous, Jonathan Tolins dominated out 2025 selecting up with a time soar:
Probably not. [laughs] It is TV. We attempt to be rational, however we’re not completely scrupulous about precisely how a lot occurs in per week between episodes. Our Christmas episode befell throughout SantaCon, which is about three weeks earlier than Christmas, however we do have a Valentine’s Day episode developing. We’re not that persnickety about how a lot time is definitely passing between episodes. What can I say? [laughs] It is so arduous to maintain this factor all clear as it’s.
Elsbeth in fact has its serialized components, with Noonan in Season 1 and now Michael Emerson because the Moriarty to Elsbeth’s Sherlock within the function of Decide Crawford, however the CBS hit continues to be largely procedural, which typically signifies that the period of time between occasions does not significantly matter. It’s a protected wager that a few of Elsbeth’s secrets and techniques going public goes to matter fairly a bit within the second half of the season, and it stays to be seen how Eric McCormack’s character suits in.
In fact, the showrunner did not explicitly verify that McCormack shall be enjoying the dangerous man, however any longtime Elsbeth fan is aware of to maintain a watchful eye on any large title visitor stars who’re combined up in a case. Do not forget to tune in to the winter premiere on January 30!