Kathy Bates might not have ended up making history as the oldest Emmy winner in the Lead Actress in a Drama Series category this past weekend — instead, Britt Lower ended up taking home that trophy for her work in Apple TV's "Severance" — but she's still acting royalty with or without the gold hardware.
And Bates will surely have a second shot at awards season with "Matlock" season 2, which is set to return to CBS with a two-night premiere on Sunday, October 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET and Thursday, October 16 at 9 p.m. ET. Thursdays at 9 p.m. will be the show's usual timeslot moving forward, with the legal drama available to stream on Paramount Plus Premium live and on demand the next day for Essential subscribers.
Now, viewers can get an early peek at how all of that law-firm hijinks play out in the new season, with CBS dropping an official new trailer for the second installment on Monday, September 15. The two-minute teaser sees Bates' character reckoning with the fact that it was Julian (Jason Ritter), the ex-husband of her colleague-slash-confidant Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), who destroyed a damning Wellbrexa document that would have served as clear evidence about those opioid deaths — including the death of her own daughter.
"Matlock" fans previously got a teaser in the form of season 2 episode 1's title and synopsis: “The Before Times" will see Bates' Madeline "Matty" Matlock questioning "the paternity of the man claiming to be Alfie’s father," per CBS. "Also, the team takes on an arson case while Olympia tries to protect Julian’s involvement in the Wellbrexa case.”
Along with Bates, Ritter and Marshall, "Matlock" season 2 will also see returning actors David Del Rio and Leah Lewis as Jacobson Moore associates Billy Martinez and Sarah Franklin, respectively; as well as Beau Bridges as Howard, Matty's boss at the firm; Sam Anderson as Matty’s husband Edwin and Aaron Harris as Matty's genius grandson Alfie.
If you missed the first season of the CBS drama, "Matlock" was inspired by the original Andy Griffith-led "Matlock" series from the 1980s, but here takes a gender-flipped turn with a fresh premise. Bates' Matty is "a brilliant attorney who rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm where she uses clever tactics to win cases while hiding a hidden agenda," per the network.
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