Elsbeth made a surprising decision to recast a former guest star in a completely different role.
CBS released new photos of Tracey Ullman, who is returning to the show after previously playing Marilyn Gladwell in season 2. The first look at her return, however, revealed she would be back as a new character: veteran gossip columnist Betty Heymouth.
“We wanted to celebrate the time-honored TV procedural tradition of bringing back former guest stars in entirely new roles — and who better than Tracey Ullman?” showrunner and executive producer Jonathan Tolins told TV Insider on Monday, March 30, about the surprising change. “She’s legendary for her ability to transform, and everyone at Elsbeth was thrilled she was willing to come play with us again.”
After originally appearing on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Carrie Preston was reintroduced as Elsbeth Tascioni in the CBS procedural, who becomes a de facto detective aiding the NYPD in their investigations. The titular character’s unconventional methods lead her to make unique observations that help solve crimes.
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The hit show, which premiered in 2024, also stars Wendell Pierce and allows for a wide variety of celebrity guest stars, including Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Blair Underwood, Keegan-Michael Key, Laura Benanti and Vanessa Williams.
Elsbeth went through another surprising onscreen change when Carra Patterson exited the show as a series regular.
“I wish I could say there was some grand plan, but a lot of it is we have to just see the way the conversation goes in the writers room,” Tolins shared with Us Weekly in October 2025. “When there’s a surprise for us, that excites us. We know that’s what we should be pursuing.”
Preston, 58, meanwhile, opened up about her initial worries after Patterson’s shocking exit.
“I was concerned when Carra needed to go and what we were going to do without her,” she told Us in February. “But what ended up happening was we brought on Lindsay Mendez, B, Ethan Slater and we brought all these wonderful characters.”
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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.”
She concluded: “[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. 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.”
Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
