It’s going to be a long wait until the next episode of Elsbeth, but it will hopefully be worth it for its fans!
Thursday, Dec. 18 saw the midseason finale of Elsbeth season 3. The show has been a delight in its third season, with Carrie Preston’s eccentric crime solver clashing with numerous killers, while the audience knows who did it and sees Elsbeth match wits with the guest-star murderer.
There is some bad news when it comes to the return of the series. But at the same time, this is a good thing.
When will Elsbeth season 3 return on CBS?
Those hoping to see the series coming back soon are in for a very long wait. Elsbeth won’t return to CBS until Thursday, Feb. 26. That’s a whopping long wait for new episodes yet there are reasons why the show is taking such a long time off.
The first is that CBS knows other networks are bringing their shows back in January, including ABC and NBC’s Thursday lineups, so it'll want to avoid going against them. Bigger is that, February is the Winter Olympics, and CBS doesn’t want to throw new episodes against a highly rated event. Avoiding those blows to the ratings can only help Elsbeth.
This means when Elsbeth returns, it will have far fewer breaks between new episodes. It may need to take one when the NCAA Basketball Tournament gets underway in March, but fewer reruns are always great for a show to keep its momentum.
At least fans know when Elsbeth returns, it’ll be with some unique twists to our main character’s love life!
What’s coming when Elsbeth returns?
A subplot in the last few episodes has been Elsbeth connecting with Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez), an organizer running for mayor of New York City. He’s aided by Marissa Gold (Sarah Steele), who enjoys pushing this romance to get publicity. Elsbeth has been taken by Ivan, including his tales of helping a homeless man as a youth.
However, Elsbeth’s son, Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) has become suspicious of Ivan being too good to be true. He’s been seeing holes in the man’s story of being homeless and brought them to both Captain Wagner and his mother. That has Elsbeth worried her new beau may not be so honest.
Speaking to TV Insider, executive producer Jonathan Tollins shared that this subplot will continue and challenge Elsbeth’s belief in the truth.
“Yes. Ivan Hernandez is great as Alec, and he’s so appealing and attractive. And there are things, though, that aren’t quite adding up. We’re looking at ideas about truth, and can you be honest in every aspect of your life all the time? What does it mean? What do we expect of each other? And also, what does it mean for public life? Do we hold people to impossible standards? All that stuff is getting mixed up with Elsbeth’s romance.”
Tollins added that the election will be a focal point in the second half of the season. There will also be the return of Winnie Crawford (Henny Russell), the widow of Judge Crawford (Preston’s real-life husband Michael Emerson), the murderous judge who clashed with Elsbeth last season.
After his murder, Elsbeth shared with Winnie the evidence of her husband’s crimes, which Winnie believed. However, she also burned the evidence to protect her family. Tollins hinted that “there may be some crossover between those two plots.”
Of course, the quirky murder cases are always the draw with ideas including Elsbeth investigating a murder from a year prior and more big guest stars. It all adds up to a fun ride for the show that makes the wait for new episodes worthwhile!
Elsbeth season 3 returns on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 10/9c on CBS.
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