Of all people, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert knows that working in TV can be murder. Now, Vulture has learned he’s going to put that real-life experience to work as a guest star on CBS’s homicide-of-the-week drama Elsbeth. Colbert, whose top-rated 11:35 p.m. program recently got handed a very unexpected cancellation notice, will appear on Robert and Michelle King’s The Good Fight spinoff as the host of … a late-night talk show called Way Late with Scotty Bristol. Production on the episode has been taking place this week in New York, indicating this episode was almost surely planned before CBS announced on July 17 it was ending The Late Show next spring. (Perhaps the Kings, Elsbeth showrunner Jonathan Tolins, and their team have inherited the psychic gifts of their peers on The Simpsons?)
It’s not clear when Colbert himself agreed to book the episode, but while interviewing Elsbeth co-star Wendell Pierce on The Late Show in February, the host said he had been telling his CBS bosses that he very much wanted to make an appearance on Elsbeth, with Pierce joking he could “make that happen.” Sources say conversations about a Colbert appearance have indeed been in the works for a while. Elsbeth is certainly no stranger to booking big-name guest stars, particularly famous New Yorkers: Nathan Lane appeared in the season-two premiere, while Matthew Broderick, Jane Krakowski, Retta, and Laurie Metcalf all made appearances.
The exact timeline of the ironic twist of fate that gave us this casting is still unclear, but we will likely see Colbert on Elsbeth relatively soon. Networks always reserve the right to tinker with airdates of episodes, but Colbert’s episode will probably serve as the third season opener of the Carrie Preston–led series, which is currently set to premiere on a special night — Sunday, October 12 — to take advantage of an NFL lead-in. No word on whether Colbert will play a victim, a murderer, or something else, and CBS declined to comment on any aspect of this story, but during his chat with Pierce, Colbert said he really wanted to play a corpse. Scotty Bristol should probably watch his back.
