“Matlock” Boss Breaks Down Season 2 Finale Twist and Why Show Will Go in a 'Different Direction' Next Season (Exclusive)

Sabienna BowmanFri, April 24, 2026 at 2:25 PM UTC

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Kathy Bates (left) and Skye P. Marshall on 'Matlock'Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season 2 finale of CBS's Matlock, now streaming on Paramount+.

Matlock season 2 ended with a shocking two-part finale on Thursday, April 23

The hit CBS show stars Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall, Beau Bridges and Jason Ritter

Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman tells PEOPLE what's ahead in season 3 after all the finale twists

Matlock has closed the case on Wellbrexa.

The two-part season 2 finale, “Who Are You?” and “Matty Matlock," officially brought the long-running storyline to a head as Julian (Jason Ritter) worked with Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) to trick Senior (Beau Bridges) into giving the FBI the evidence they needed to arrest all of the senior partners, as well as Julian himself.

The season ended with Julian and Senior in handcuffs as Matty and Olympia walked away from Jacobson Moore toward a future that appears to include their own law firm.

"It feels great to have come to the end of this and to really pay off things for the audience that we've been setting up," showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman tells PEOPLE. "We've been laying out the logical architecture and the emotional architecture for two years to get to this point. And we really wanted satisfaction and to launch the show into a different direction in the third season."

Kathy Bates (left) and Skye P. Marshall on 'Matlock'Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS

That includes introducing a new mystery, though Urman, 50, is remaining mum on what that mystery will entail.

The Matlock boss did share that she's "grateful" to CBS for holding season 3 until midseason. "We have to plot a whole new mystery. So I'm going to have a nice long pre-production with the writers, and we really get to do it right," she says.

The big question mark at the end of the season is who will be jumping ship with Matty and Olympia as they embark on a new chapter? Urman teases, "You could say that the plan is to start their own law firm together. What will happen? What are the iterations of that? Will Sarah join? That's all to be seen."

From left: Skye P. Marshall, Jason Ritter and Kathy Bates on 'Matlock'Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS

One thing is certain: Urman has plans for Sarah (Leah Lewis), Hunter (Henry Haber) and the rest of the Jacobson Moore team. "I love so many of our recurring characters," she says. "I want to see Yael [Grobglas], Shae back, Mrs. Belvin [Patricia Belcher], just a... Hunter. They're all part of the fabric of the show, and the people we like in it."

Meanwhile, Edwin (Sam Anderson) will be stepping out of the shadows now that Matty is committed to keeping her Matlock persona alive.

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"Like he said, Matty Matlock needs a boyfriend. And what does him play-acting look like? And how sort of airtight is it is something that we'll play with," Urman says. "Then new dynamics start to come into their relationship that I'm really, really excited to explore next season."

Following his arrest, Julian's fate remains the most unclear. The question of whether he'll have to leave his legal career behind or potentially even face prison time remains to be seen. For her part, Urman can't wait to see Ritter, 46, take on whatever challenges season 3 serves up for his character after his layered performance this season.

"What I love about Jason is just how seamlessly and expertly he does both comedy and drama," the showrunner says. "And so, there will be plenty of both in this next season for him. Plenty of emotional stuff to mine about what the aftermath is and what that looks like. And also, knowing where his storyline goes, there's going to be some fun too."

One thing fans don't have to fret over is sitting through another big friendship breakup between Olympia and Matty. Whatever comes next, Urman promises the two women will face it together.

From left: Kathy Bates, Jason Ritter and Skye P. Marshall on 'Matlock'Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS

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The show has "always been about their love story," she says, adding, "It always was going to be like that, they were the will they/won't they. We were going to be watching them grow closer, then we were going to have to pull them apart when this truth came out, and then we were going to spend this time building them back together."

Urman continues, "So that's always been where we do the most delicate work, I think. I just love them together ... when they're emotional, when they're funny, when they're drunk. It's just this really beautiful place to live in, and the actors are like that too, and they love doing scenes together. So I thought it was really lovely to end there. Also, their friendship is forged. We're not going to be worrying about whether they trust each other or not."

That doesn't mean the two powerful women won't still occasionally butt heads. "They can have episodic disagreements and want different things and all of that, but, to me, they're forged," she says.

"When Matty said, 'I think my daughter led me here to you,' that was always something giant that we were going to be building towards, of why she's able to let go and what she's gotten that she didn't expect to get in terms of her relationship with Olympia and this new love of the law," Urman adds. "That was always what we were driving towards."

Matlock seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Paramount+.

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