Elsbeth’s Carrie Preston Was ‘Concerned’ After [Spoiler]’s Shocking Exit

Carrie Preston opened up about her initial worries after Carra Patterson‘s shocking exit as a main cast member on Elsbeth.

“I was concerned when Carra needed to go and what we were going to do without her,” Preston, 58, told Us Weekly exclusively before the show’s return on Thursday, February 26. “But what ended up happening was we brought on Lindsay Mendez, b, Ethan Slater and we brought all these wonderful characters.”

Preston was thrilled by how the show was able to expand.

“It suddenly feels like, ‘Oh, right. The NYPD has lots of people and it’s not just this small group.’ It made the show feel in some ways bigger,” she noted. “I wasn’t altogether sure how we were going to do that without it seeming like we were trying to replace Carra — and yet we did and we still get to have Cara back. It’s been the best of all worlds.”

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Elsbeth, which premiered on CBS, featured Preston’s title character working alongside Patterson’s Kaya to solve cases in New York City. Season 2, which concluded in May 2025, ended with Patterson departing the show as a series regular.

The show explained Kaya’s absence by revealing she was on an undercover assignment in Washington D.C, which allowed the show’s creative team to get creative when it came to the world of the hit police procedural.

“[It brought] change, growth, conflict, loss and all of those things are enriching for any character. Our show for the first couple of seasons was also very much a romance where these two women were very much connected and they were so different and yet found this incredible common ground through their work together,” Preston told Us. “That doesn’t go away. So the longing for that — for her best friend — and to be with her has created some really fun and deep and touching scene work.”

The actress continued: “When Kaya does come back then we get to see that reunion. We get to see them fall back into where they were, but both of them have experienced things apart that they can bring to the friendship. It’s been interesting, and the writers have done such a beautiful job of not trying to fill the shoes of Kaya because you can’t, but instead bringing in different sidekicks for Elsbeth and seeing her have relationships with those people and those are different than what she has with Kaya. All of those things are doing nothing but making it a richer tapestry for the actors and hopefully for the audience.”

Elsbeth, which debuted in 2024, reintroduced the title character after she originally appeared on The Good Wife and The Good Fight. The first two seasons showed Elsbeth becoming a de facto detective who aids NYPD investigations. In addition to Preston and Patterson, Wendell Pierce has been a consistent presence as each episode introduced new guest stars.

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“That is what makes our show stand out is our ability to draw such incredible talent. We have people who come to us who want to be on the show and that makes me proud as, you know, the person playing the title character. Our reputation now is it’s a good place to come join in,” Preston noted. “You’re going to be safe there. The crew is going to take great care of you and the writers are going to take really good care of you and give you a delicious character to play.”

Preston expressed her gratitude for the actors willing to sign on week to week, adding, “That’s what I get excited about sharing with the audience because they get to see these actors playing something that we don’t normally see them play and they get to stretch their muscles that way too.”

Looking ahead, Preston promised more quality episodes to come.

“The character continues to grow and to broaden and deepen because of all of these different situations that we get to see her in,” she told Us. “The best thing about Elsbeth is a very present, consistently herself character, which means even when she’s in challenging situations, we can always rely on her mind and her intellect to get her through the twists and turns that are thrown her way by all of the different worlds that she gets thrown in.”

Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.