CBS’ premiere week is packing a lot of premieres into the 2024 TV schedule, with Elsbeth returning to its Thursday night time slot with an episode that features a star of stage, large, and small screeners as the potential killer. Yes, Nathan Lane is the much-hyped guest star for the Season 2 premiere on October 17. Series star Carrie Preston and showrunner Jonathan Tolins spoke with CinemaBlend about why Lane was the “first” and perfect choice to kick off the second season.
The Season 2 premiere is called “Subscription to Murder,” with Nathan Lane starring as an obsessed opera lover by the name of Phillip Cross, who Elsbeth suspects murdered a man for being disruptive in the theater. Fans will have to tune in to the episode on October 17 to see how right Elsbeth is about Cross, but considering a promo featuring what looks like Nathan Lane wielding a weapon and the fact that Elsbeth‘s big-name guest stars are often the bad guys, he seems likely to be the culprit.
One thing we can be confident of is that Nathan Lane is not coming to Elsbeth to reprise his role from The Good Wife. (You can revisit that series streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.) I spoke with both the showrunner and the star ahead of Season 2, and Jonathan Tolins shared what led to Lane being cast for the premiere:
It’s not much of a story! I wrote the script, and we sent it to him, and he said yes a few hours later. I’m very, very thrilled. He was our first choice. Nathan’s big break in theater was playing the part of Mendy in Terrence McNally’s play The Lisbon Traviata, who was an obsessed opera fan, who’s not exactly the same character as Philip, but it was someone who really knew their opera. I just knew Nathan would hit it out of the park, and so I was very excited. I’d met him, but I’d never worked for them before, and I was so thrilled that he said yes, and he was as good as we hoped.
Nathan Lane may not be an opera singer, but he’s certainly a tried-and-true performer known for his work in theater that ranges from the play that Jonathan Tolins cited to more well-known roles like Guys and Dolls and The Producers. The showrunner also wasn’t the only person to sing Lane’s praises for his work on Elsbeth. Carrie Preston, who got emotional filming the Season 1 finale’s scenes for Elsbeth, shared:
Our showrunner Jon Tolins wrote the episode. He himself is a huge opera buff, so he knew that that’s how he wanted to start the season, and he wrote the role for Nathan. It was very much tailored for Nathan, and also tailored for the world that Jon is so, so familiar with. He was very specific about what he wanted to do with the episode, with the writing. We already had great, great stuff to play, and then Nathan just came in completely grounded in this character. I don’t think I ever saw him even look at his script. It was already just so in him, and that’s saying something, since we don’t get the scripts until a week or two before we start. It was pretty impressive.
Apparently, the belief that Nathan Lane should be the “first choice” for the very first potential killer of Season 2 paid off! Carrie Preston went on to share how Lane’s performance affected her as the second season got started:
Also just to be able to work with somebody at his level, it really is such a fun experience. It really brings my game up, and it was the first episode of the season, so I was well rested. I was excited to start off this epic journey. Nancy Hower directed the episode. She directed the Gina Gershon episode in Season 1, the plastic surgery one, so she’s very familiar with the show and the tone. We had a really great team on that one.
All in all, Elsbeth seems poised to get off to a strong start without the obstacles that the first season faced due to the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike. In fact, when I spoke with Jonathan Tolins the week before the Season 2 premiere, he shared that they were “shooting Episode 8” and “working on the story of [Episode 12].”
In contrast, the Elsbeth team had a long wait between filming its pilot and the show actually debuting earlier this year. So, did it feel different for Carrie Preston to get to work without an extremely long break between filming? She shared:
It was good because we had the momentum from finishing [Season 1]. We had about two months off, between finishing Season 1 and starting Season 2. That was enough time to catch our breath, and just knowing that we had this marathon to run. The writers were able to break the season, get all the worlds of each episode lined up and ready to go by the time we started shooting. We’re in the thick of it now, and it’s going really well.
The wait is nearly over for the Season 2 premiere, as the episode will air on Thursday, October 17 at 10 p.m. ET, following the time slot premiere of Kathy Bates’ Matlock on CBS. If you want a closer look at Nathan Lane’s killer character, take a look:
New episodes of Elsbeth will continue airing on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, as well as streaming via Paramount+. Fans can look forward to a special Halloween episode as well, which will actually air on Halloween night and feature Elsbeth herself in costume.