‘Matlock’ Star Reveals When the Cast Learned Who Hid the Wellbrexa Documents [Exclusive]
Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Matlock.
At long last, Matlock is providing the answer viewers have been waiting for. Season 1 of CBS’s smash-hit reimagining of the Andy Griffith classic has followed Matty Matlock (Kathy Bates), aka Madeline Kingston, as she navigates the ins and outs of Jacobson Moore to find out who within the law firm hid the evidence in a high-profile pharmaceutical case during the opioid epidemic that could’ve saved her daughter’s life. Suspicions have pointed towards Beau Bridges‘s managing partner, Senior, as the show unfolded, as well as his son Julian (Jason Ritter), who had a mountain of evidence stacking against him by the show’s penultimate episode. The finale finally unveils the truth, and according to star Skye P. Marshall, the cast was right there with the audience, trying to piece everything together until the end.
In an interview with Collider’s Christina Radish ahead of the supersized conclusion, Marshall discussed the circumstances surrounding the big Wellbrexa reveal and what went on throughout production leading up to that moment. From the beginning, Matlock aimed to make everyone at the firm seem like a potential suspect, including Marshall’s Olympia, who became Matty’s closest friend within the building. Even once it seemed like certain characters were cleared, the goal was to keep a little suspicion around everyone to ensure that nobody felt completely unbelievable as the culprit. The same was true, however, for ensuring that whoever hid the documents didn’t feel obvious. To do that, Marshall says the cast only learned who was responsible “When we got the script, which we get days before production.”
The suspense was worth it in her eyes because it allowed everyone to act more naturally without the anticipation of an eventual reveal from their characters. More importantly, for her, it allowed her to focus on what was important to Olympia first and foremost, while Matty and her family worked together separately to break down the evidence:
“None of us wanted to know. It’s never fun to see an actor twist their mustache behind their dialogue. We didn’t want to anticipate anything. We didn’t even want our subconscious mind to try to act out any kind of villain demeanor or be the good girl or the good guy. We just wanted to do our jobs and fight for our clients, while at the same time trying to process all of these personal ups and downs that we are experiencing outside of the Jacobson Moore walls. When we’re filming, we’re not in Madeline Kingston’s house, figuring out and trying to solve this problem. I glaze over it. I barely read her scenes. And so, I forgot, after a while, what her mission was. For me, I was doing my job with my clients, trying to process a very complex divorce, while figuring out my friendship with Matlock and being a mentor to Sarah and Billy. When I read that script and she stopped off that bus, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh!'”
‘Matlock’s Finale Had Marshall in Tears While Filming
Not knowing the answer to the show’s biggest mystery was difficult, but it helped Marshall buy into this reimagining of Matlock as a twisty legal drama all the more. “I was so emotionally, physically, and mentally invested in Matlock, she continued. “I was working insane hours, memorizing an overwhelming amount of dialogue that I was happy to embrace because it challenged me. I reached my highest potential that I currently have as talent.” She also gave credit to the talented team — headlined by the Oscar-winning Bates on the cast side and helmer Jennie Snyder Urman on the creative end — for giving her a lot to work with throughout every twist and turn. “My cast and this level of writing has allowed me to step up to my highest potential right now. I know that I can still grow, but right now, this is the best I’ve been for myself, and I’m so proud of that. It took a lot out of me to deliver that.”
All the hard work culminated in a finale that had Marshall tearing up over the big reveal. Finding the person who hid the Wellbrexa documents has been at the core of Matty’s emotional journey, and audiences have rallied around her despite all the collateral damage her actions are causing. Matlock has been a ratings juggernaut for CBS since its premiere, standing as not just broadcast television’s #1 new series, but the second highest-rated show across all networks last week, behind only Justin Hartley‘s sophomore hit Tracker. Between her deep connection to her character and the pressure of millions of eyes tuning in every week, it was an emotionally overwhelming moment to finally learn the truth behind the show’s main mystery. Moreover, keeping the answer hidden from the cast allowed Marshall to show her real feelings as someone who grew so invested in the story:
“By the time I got to that safety deposit box, something that we had been waiting for, for so long, every take that they shot, I either was crying or held back tears because it was a scene where I never knew what the stakes would be. I wasn’t prepared for 13 million plus people to throw tomatoes at me in the street. I was like, ‘Please don’t let it be me. Please don’t let it be me. Please don’t let it be me. Please God, please. I want to be able to go to Trader Joe’s without being cornered.’ Those kids are my kids now. With the stakes of it all, I had been so submerged in the filming and the character that I deeply felt everything. And I could tell so did Jason [Ritter] and so did Kathy. It’s right when those worlds get blurred. You’re literally at work, and then you go home and go to sleep. For me, it becomes my whole world and I feel exactly what my character is feeling. It takes a few weeks to shake that off when you’re done with production. By the end of filming those last three episodes, I was not acting anymore. All I had to do was make sure I memorized my lines and that I was prepared. I had all the feelings on the surface, and I was ready to just rip.”
Matlock‘s Season 1 finale aired tonight, April 17, on CBS and will be available to stream tomorrow on Paramount+. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the series as it looks forward to Season 2.
