‘Elsbeth’ Star Carrie Preston Says Lawyer Has ‘Met Her Match’ in Killer Judge Played by Husband Michael Emerson

Note: This story contains spoilers for the Dec. 12 episode of “Elsbeth”

Michael Emerson and Carrie Preston have often acted together throughout their marriage, and this week the “Evil” star made his debut on “Elsbeth” as haughty judge Milton Crawford, who clashes with Elsbeth Tascioni when she’s put on one of his juries.

Emerson previously speculated with TheWrap that he would not be the killer on the murder-of-the-week series, as that would be “too obvious,” since he so memorably played villains on both “Evil” and “Lost.”

As it turned out, Crawford is very much a killer, one who manages to elude Elsbeth, at least for now. As Preston told TheWrap, the quirky-lawyer-turned-sleuth has “met her match” in the elusive judge, who will recur throughout the season.

The actress also talked about worrying she put a curse on Emerson when she had to stick a pin in a photo of him on set, and how much more we’ll see of Elsbeth’s son Teddy, played by new cast addition Ben Levi Ross.

TheWrap: This is the first episode where Elsbeth doesn’t solve the murder, but she definitely suspects Crawford.

Carrie Preston: It’s good that Elsbeth can’t solve all of the crimes in each episode, to have her Moby Dick that she’s trying to find or the Moriarty to her Sherlock, somebody who is the thorn in her side, somebody she is having a really hard time roping in.

Michael Emerson: She’ll get another crack.

Preston: They both have kind of met their match, so that’s fun, because the stakes are really high for both of them.

How many episodes will you be in, Michael?

Emerson: I have two big ones where I’m the guest lead, and you’ll see me two or three more times, just popping up every now and then to remind the audience that I’m still out there, and I’m still trying to take my revenge.

Preston: Also his little smug mug is on my bulletin board in Elsbeth’s office. There’s a moment where I take a tack and stick it right in his face. I came home and I was like, “Michael, I had to hit your face over and over again with a push pin.” And at one point I said, “God, I hope I’m not doing any voodoo on my own.” And Wendell [Pierce], who is from New Orleans, he’s like, “Don’t worry. I’ll take the evil spell off.” So thankfully, he wiped the spell off. [Laughs]

You’ve worked together many times before, but can you talk about facing off as these characters once they realize they’re enemies?

Preston: We were working with a lovely director who was giving us really fun things to play, and kind of letting us find it ourselves. It was really fun. We got our creative juices flowing in those scenes. We have a lot of really meaty one-on-one scenes, which you just don’t get in television. They’re very theatrical. Our showrunner Jonathan Tolins is a playwright first and most of the writers have done theater along the way. 

In that homage to “Columbo,” we have these really great scenes where we play six, seven page scenes where we shoot more than we actually keep, but it does feel like we’re doing a little play together.

Emerson: I love those highly compressed one-on-one scenes where there’s a sense where the threat level is high and the subtext is powerful.

We also meet Elsbeth’s son Teddy in this episode. Carrie, you previously told me that you weren’t sure if you wanted him to ever make an appearance or stay offscreen like Columbo’s wife.

Preston: It’s so wonderful to finally have Teddy be a flesh-and-blood actor standing there, because we’ve talked about him all during Season 1 and we needed to make sure that we found the right actor. And we did, played by Ben wonderfully.

I don’t usually have anything to do with casting, but I said, “Why don’t you let me come in and read with your top contenders?” So I did a couple days of readings, and we had so many wonderful choices, but there was just something about what Ben brought to it that felt right. We all agreed immediately after his audition.

And then when he came on set, it just felt like he had been there forever. He’s such a great actor, and he’s a theater boy and he really knows his way around the text.

Carrie, before Michael joined the show, did you break down each episode for him before it aired?

Preston: For two married actors, it’s remarkable how little we talk about [each other’s projects.] It’s more of a logistical kind of thing. Like, “Oh, I had this great scene with Cara [Patterson] today. And then Wendell said this funny thing, and then we all laughed.” It’s not so much about the plot. I don’t read his scripts. He doesn’t read mine. 

On “Evil,” I wouldn’t know what the episodes were about. I would get a text from him like, “One more scene with the demon baby. Will be home after.” [Laughs]

And I send him texts like, “Must arrest the killer, then I’ll be home.”

This story has been edited for clarity and length.

“Elsbeth” airs Thursdays at 10 pm. on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.

The post ‘Elsbeth’ Star Carrie Preston Says Lawyer Has ‘Met Her Match’ in Killer Judge Played by Husband Michael Emerson appeared first on TheWrap.