Even after 17 years, The Good Wife continues to be a hit on CBS, and its spin-off series just finished its third season on May 21st. A fourth season is planned to premiere this fall.
Carrie Preston stars as Elsbeth Tascioni in the series Elsbeth. She plays a detective consultant who works with the NYPD. Preston first played Elsbeth in The Good Wife and continued the role in its spinoff, The Good Fight, appearing in both shows as a recurring character.
Even though Elsbeth has been part of this TV universe since it started, her new show doesn’t share much of a connection with the earlier Good series. Until Season 3, Preston was the only significant actor—besides Christian Borle, who played Carter Schmidt in all three shows—to appear in all of them.
The 3 Reasons Why More Good Wife Characters Don’t Appear on Elsbeth
In an interview with TVLine, Elsbeth creator Jonathan Tolins discussed the show’s limited connections to The Good Wife, and explained how they were able to bring back Sarah Steele as Marissa Gold.
So far, Sarah Steele, who played Marissa Gold, is the only character to return from The Good Wife universe, and that felt like a fitting way to bring her back. The writers thought her character would have naturally moved into a career in politics. However, it’s challenging to incorporate more characters because our show is set in New York, while The Good Wife was in Chicago, and we’re a police procedural, unlike the original’s focus on legal drama, explained Tolins.
The biggest reason there aren’t many familiar faces from The Good Wife on Elsbeth is likely budget constraints. According to Tolins, bringing back the main actors as guest stars would be too expensive.
The show Elsbeth has successfully introduced actors like Nathan Lane and Hamish Linklater in new roles. However, if actors like Christine Baranski and Matt Czuchry, who played Diane Lockhart and Cary Agos respectively, were to appear, it would likely be as those same characters to avoid confusing viewers.
According to Tolins, they simply can’t afford to bring in those individuals. He clarified that their budget is primarily allocated to cover the costs associated with a murderer, meaning it would be difficult to accommodate anyone else unless Diane Lockhart were to commit a murder herself.
Elsbeth Is Returning This Fall for Season 4 on CBS
The TV show Elsbeth first aired on CBS in February 2024, starting as a replacement show with 10 episodes. It was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes in October 2024, and a third season with another 20 episodes followed in October 2025. A fourth season began in January 2026, and while the exact number of episodes hasn’t been announced, it’s likely to have around 20 again.
The hit show Elsbeth will be back for a fourth season on CBS this fall, airing Thursdays at 9 PM Eastern / 8 PM Central. The specific premiere date will be announced soon.
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2026-05-26 23:22