Bring them back!
Elsbeth Tascioni didn’t start out leading her own show. At first, Carrie Preston was an iconic guest star on The Good Wife, and her character was a fan favorite who returned time and time again. Now, on Elsbeth, we get to see her all the time interacting with new incredible guest stars each and every episode. So, as we wait for Season 3’s premiere on the 2025 TV schedule, Preston has opened up about the guest star she wants to see return again, and personally, I’d love to see this happen.
Tracey Ullman is the guest star Preston called out when asked about who she’d like to see return. During an interview with Busy Philipps on Busy This Week, she absolutely gushed about her, saying:
I used to watch her show religiously. Everything that she did because she just transforms. This woman becomes complete, head to toe, other people. She did the same on Elsbeth, a guest spot that takes eight days to shoot. This woman shows up, I mean, I’m talking about a lace-front wig, just so, just right for the character. Talking about brown contact lenses. She wanted — she was playing a psychic, so she wanted the character to have deep, soulful eyes, and then fake teeth, a bridge. She comes in with fake teeth, just popping them in like nothing. And then she had this whole accent down and everything.
As you can see in the photo below, Ullman truly did transform for her episode of Elsbeth.
In Season 2, Episode 15, “I See…Murder” (which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription), she played fortuneteller Marilyn Gladwell. Now, as you’d expect from Tracey Ullman, the woman behind one of the best sketch comedy shows, she brings the funny and flair. However, she also brings the drama, too, making for quite the mystery!
Plus, her look was next level, and as Preston pointed out helped her fully commit to the role. That kind of transformative mindset is also why I think Ullman can easily fulfill the following dream that Elsbeth’s star voiced:
She’s magic, and we have this thing now where we would like to bring her back onto the show but play a totally different character.
Yes, yes, let’s make this happen! It’d be a dream to see her come back as someone else. I’d like to point out that this wouldn’t be far-fetched or impossible either. We’ve seen a few guest stars from The Good Wife come to Elsbeth to play totally different characters, like Nathan Lane and Laura Benanti. So, the precedent is set that actors can return in different roles, plus considering how much Ullman changed her look for her episode, she can easily change it up again.
That would make the following silly request from Preston plausible:
She could actually be the killer in every episode if we wanted.
The other option is that she could easily return as her character from “I See…Murder.” A whole bunch of murderers returned for the Season 2 finale, so I think it’s quite possible for us to see this fortuneteller again.
Time will tell if this wish of Preston’s comes true, and I sincerely hope it does. However, for now, let’s look forward to what we do know. Elsbeth will return for CBS’s 2025-2026 season on Sunday, October 12 at 9:30 p.m. ET before returning to its normal Thursday slot. So, get excited, folks, a third season of murders and mysteries is coming, and I can’t wait to watch Elsbeth solve them.
However, I also can’t help but hope that in one of these episodes we’ll see the return of Tracey Ullman in some way, shape or form.
