# Matlock (2024 TV series)

Matlock is an American legal drama television series that premiered with a sneak peek on September 22, 2024, before its timeslot premiere on October 17 on CBS. The show was developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, and draws from the original Matlock TV series which starred Andy Griffith, but with a gender flipped lead character played by Kathy Bates and a vastly different premise overall. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.

## Premise

Wealthy retired lawyer Madeline Kingston returns to practice seeking justice for the death of her daughter Ellie in the opioid epidemic. Kingston gets a job using the alias of needy widow Matty Matlock, at the law firm she believes hid evidence that could have saved her daughter's life. To gain the firm's trust she must first apply her intellect to help her colleagues with other challenging cases.
Within the universe of the series, the original Matlock series aired as it did in the real world, and Ellie's love of the series inspires Madeline's alias.

## Cast and characters
### Main

* Kathy Bates as Madeline "Matty" Matlock / Madeline Kingston, who claims to be a widowed lawyer, returning to the workforce following decades of retirement due to being left in financial distress by her husband's gambling troubles, and having to raise her grandson following her daughter's death from a car accident. Matlock takes a job at the law firm Jacobson Moore, working with Olympia, a junior partner at the firm who becomes her boss. In fact, Kingston is wealthy and happily married, though indeed grieving the loss of her daughter who died from an opioid overdose and seeking retribution. She gave herself the alias of Matlock that was inspired by the TV series.
* Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence, a junior partner at Jacobson Moore who becomes Matlock's boss. In the pilot episode, she is in the midst of divorcing Julian while aiming at a senior partner role with the support of her father-in-law. Olympia is reluctant to take Matty under her wing.
* Jason Ritter as Julian Markston, a senior partner at Jacobson Moore. In the pilot episode, he is in the midst of divorcing Olympia and engaged in a major settlement action involving a large pharmaceutical corporation.
* David Del Rio as Billy Martinez, a first year associate at Jacobson Moore working with Olympia
* Leah Lewis as Sarah Yang, a first year associate at Jacobson Moore working with Olympia

### Recurring

* Eme Ikwuakor as Elijah, an attorney at Jacobson Moore who was in a romantic relationship with Olympia
* Aaron Harris as Alfie Kingston, Madeline's genius grandson who is in charge of the family's technical operations
* Sam Anderson as Edwin Kingston, Madeline's husband
* Beau Bridges as Howard "Senior", a managing partner at Jacobson Moore, father of Julian and soon-to-be ex-father-in-law of Olympia. He guardedly supports Olympia's career and efforts to develop a new revenue stream for the firm, telling her that he believes that father-in-law is a forever role.
* Patricia Belcher as Mrs. Belvin ("Mrs. B"), an administrative manager at Jacobson Moore
* Yael Grobglas as Shae Banfield, a jury consultant at Jacobson Moore
* Piper Curda as Kira, a woman who works at the information technology (IT) department at Jacobson Moore who begins a relationship with Sarah
* Andrea Londo as Simone, a recently hired junior associate at Jacobson Moore who attended the same law school as Sarah
* Julie Hagerty as Bitsy, Madeline's sister and inspiration for her "Matlock" persona.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Kat Coiro | Jennie Snyder Urman | September 22, 2024 (2024-9-22) | 7.74 |
| Retired lawyer Madeline "Matty" Matlock lands an associate position at New York City law firm Jacobson Moore, citing financial hardship brought on by her deceased husband's gambling debts. Her first case involves Raymond Harris, who is seeking compensation for being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for serial rape and murder. Working with fellow associates Billy and Sarah and aspiring senior partner Olympia, Matty tracks down a former prostitute who filed a police report that was not submitted into evidence, earning Raymond a $20 million settlement. Unbeknownst to everyone, Matty is really Madeline Kingston: a wealthy retiree living with her husband and grandson and determined to avenge her daughter's death, which was the result of someone at Jacobson Moore concealing documents that could have helped take opioids off the market. |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Rome, in a Day" | Kat Coiro | Jennie Snyder Urman | October 17, 2024 (2024-10-17) | 6.38 |
| As Matty tries to settle in at Jacobson Moore while also trying to figure out how to get evidence connected to Ellie's death, Olympia is approached by one of her clients, Deidre, whose 18-year-old nephew Michael has been accused of killing 16-year-old Ariana Perez behind the bodega owned by his friend Charlie's family. Michael has developmental delays and has gone mute following the incident. Olympia reluctantly agrees to defend Michael, enlisting Matty, Billy, and Sarah to help her. Matty manages to find a discrepancy in the testimonies between Charlie's father Jimmy and another eyewitness, and Jimmy admits there was a party in the bodega where alcohol was served to minors. A seemingly incriminating video of Michael crops up, but with Matty's help, Olympia proves Charlie doctored the video, and that Ariana died in an accident while she went around back to have sex with Charlie. Olympia and her estranged husband Julian argue after she fails to tell him their daughter got sick, but eventually they make amends and decide to try and make their divorce more amicable. Matty manages to get the passcode for Olympia's phone. |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "A Guy Named Greg" | Brad Silberling | Nicki Renna | October 24, 2024 (2024-10-24) | 6.48 |
| Now starting to gain Olympia's trust, Matty is brought on to help her in a lawsuit, where a woman claims she was wrongfully fired after refusing her boss' sexual advances. Shae, a woman with a reputation for detecting lies, is brought in as a jury consultant. Matty is nervous Shae will uncover her ruse, but manages to deflect suspicion. Unable to find any evidence connected to the opioids on Olympia's phone, Matty manages to get into her laptop, but again finds nothing conclusive. The lawsuit starts to go south when a damaging recording is revealed, but Matty discovers the defendant has a history of sexual assault, enabling Olympia to make a comeback and win the case. Matty now sets her sights on gaining access to the file room. |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Rabbit and the Hawk" | Kat Coiro | Jeffrey Lieber | October 31, 2024 (2024-10-31) | 6.54 |
| Matty is asked to help Olympia represent Robert, an elderly artist who is suing the owners of his building for inadvertently causing the illness that killed his wife Sandy. The case becomes tough for Olympia when her colleague and friend Darius is discovered to be leading the defense. Matty manages to gain access to the files connected to the opioid cover-up, but the ones she was after are encrypted and untraceable. The building owners provide a report insinuating Robert's slight hoarding might have made Sandy sick, and his lawsuit derails. Matty and Edwin fight over Alfie slacking off at school in order to help Matty with her investigation. Matty befriends Robert and soon manages to prove that the building owners really were responsible for Sandy's illness. Robert is offered a settlement which he quickly accepts, but Matty discovers that Howard "Senior" Markston, Julian's father and the senior partner at Jacobson Moore, has done some legal wrangling that makes the settlement worthless. Olympia is crestfallen, but cheers up quickly when Julian takes her side. Matty and Edwin reconcile, and he takes over as her investigative partner so Alfie can focus on school. Matty soon finds evidence that suggests Senior was responsible for hiding the opioid files. |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Claws" | Marie Jamora | Michelle Leibel | November 7, 2024 (2024-11-7) | 5.98 |
| Jacobson Moore is tasked with an extremely big class-action case; a female ex-con suing the prison system for mistreating her while she served time for drug use. Matty soon bonds with the plaintiff, whose troubles were similar to Ellie's, but the case quickly goes awry when the plaintiff relapses and disappears, and none of the other female prisoners will testify out of fear of being a snitch. Matty manages to track down the plaintiff and discovers she was manipulated into relapsing by the prison warden, so the money meant for the settlement could be used for funding the prison's rehabilitation, allowing Olympia to win the case. Edwin allows Alfie to start helping Matty again on a smaller scale. Against Matty's objections, Billy sets her up on a dating site, only for someone to recognize her. |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Sixteen Steps" | Kat Coiro | Sara Rose Feinberg | November 14, 2024 (2024-11-14) | 6.12 |
| In a flashback to two years earlier, Julian and Olympia represent a lesbian couple suing a baby formula company for making contaminated formula that killed the couple's 9-month-old son. The company wins, causing Julian and Olympia's already shaky marriage to crumble. In the present, Julian and Olympia's relationship is improving and they decide to take another look at the case. Meanwhile, Matty discovers the person who recognized her on the dating site was the father of Ellie's childhood friend Tommy, another addict who has now relapsed and gone missing. Olympia manages to find evidence suggesting the formula was contaminated, and with sentimental testimony from one of the deceased baby's mothers, she wins the case. Afterwards, Julian tells Matty he's bringing her on to the WellBrexa team, which could allow Matty to get the information she needs to expose Senior's crimes. |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Belly of the Beast" | Tessa Blake | Hennah Sekander | December 5, 2024 (2024-12-5) | 6.32 |
| At Christmas, Matty is put on a case with the drug company WellBrexa, where a music student sues after claiming a clinical trial caused her to suffer horrible side effects. Despite her efforts, an incriminating text chain allows the case to proceed to trial, and as a result Senior pulls both Matty and Julian off the team. However, Matty bounces back and finds a technicality that gets the text chain ruled inadmissable, and WellBrexa wins the case. Meanwhile Julian and Olympia get back together as Billy plans to propose to his longterm girlfriend. Unfortunately, Billy is dumped after he proposes while Sarah has a successful evening with her crush. Trying to start fresh, Julian confesses to Olympia that he had an affair shortly before their separation, which upsets her, while Matty manages to obtain Senior's e-mail password. |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "No, No Monsters" | Yangzom Brauen | Sheridan Watson | December 12, 2024 (2024-12-12) | 6.20 |
| Olympia is asked to defend Nadira, a nanny at her children's school who was fired after pictures of her seemingly abusing the child in her care are posted on an online forum. Though still troubled by Julian's confession, Olympia agrees, causing her to face backlash from the other mothers. Billy becomes apathetic after his breakup, and Matty and Sarah try to help him cope. Matty manages to gain access to Senior's computer and retrieve what appears to be an incriminating email to Julian. Olympia eventually discovers that the pictures were posted by one of her friends, who was cheating on her husband, thought Nadira saw her, and therefore wanted to discredit her. Elsewhere, Matty is crestfallen when the email actually shows that Senior was in Australia when the opiod documents arrived at the office, meaning either Julian or Olympia framed him for the cover-up. However, she manages to plant a recording device in Olympia's office. |||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Friends" | Daniel Willis | John Lowe | January 30, 2025 (2025-1-30) | 5.78 |
| Olympia represents Elijah's cousin Sam in a wrongful termination case. Edwin is concerned Matty is becoming too close with Olympia. Matty learns from her recording device that Julian cheated with Shae. Opposing counsel calls a surprise witness with testimony implicating Sam and her friend Khadija in the theft of a company truck. Olympia believes Khadija is framing Sam, but Sam insists that Khadija is innocent. Olympia reveals to Matty that she and Shae worked on WellBrexa's opioid case. They track Sam's stolen bluetooth earbuds to the apartment of a company manager, and discover he is a union buster. The manager confesses to framing Sam for the theft after she attempted to unionize. Olympia and Julian decide to compete for a promotion, with the loser leaving the firm. Matty decides to trust Olympia and removes her as a suspect. |||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Crash Helmets On" | Jennifer Lynch | Lizzie Perrin & Nicki Renna | February 6, 2025 (2025-2-6) | 6.25 |
| 11 | 11 | "A Traitor in Thine Own House" | Hannah Michielsen | Sara Rose Feinberg | February 13, 2025 (2025-2-13) | 5.75 |
| Olympia is assigned to assist a former oil executive turned environmentalist who is accusing a rival company of stealing his technology. Shae is brought on as a consultant, and Matty plans to use the opportunity to investigate Shae's potential involvement in hiding the WellBrexa documents. Shae is suspicious of Matty and teams up with Sarah to investigate her in turn. Matty files an HR complaint against Shae, but Shae is emboldened by Sarah discovering "a new lead" to Matty's past, and flies to Georgia to meet with an unknown man. Sarah insults Billy for being chosen over her for Autry's case, causing a rift between them. Using data from the company's tracking devices, Matty discovers the executive leaked his own technology. The "new lead" Shae pursued is revealed to be a ruse created by Alfie, and Shae's contact was Edwin in disguise. Shae revealed to Edwin that she used to work in marketing, leading Matty to conclude the leaked documents were marketing-related. Edwin claims he lost the email from Joey, but a final shot reveals he is lying. |||||||
| 12 | 12 | "This is That Moment" | Kat Coiro | David Aguilar & Hennah Sekander | February 20, 2025 (2025-2-20) | 5.88 |
| Matty learns Jackobson Moore tracks employee movements through their keycards, and devises a plan to steal Julian's keycard. Meanwhile, Olympia is tasked with resolving a custody dispute between Hispanic couple Bruno and Paloma. This reminds Matty of her own custody dispute with Ellie 10 years prior, where Matty fought to gain custody of Alfie after Ellie's neglect caused him to burn his hand. Ellie was distraught and overdosed the last day of the trial, causing Matty to blame herself for Ellie's death. Julian positions himself as opposing counsel, creating tension between him and Olympia. Paloma attempts to take her son Tenoch to Mexico to visit her dying father, but is accused of kidnapping, and barricades herself in an office rather than allow social workers to take Tenoch. Matty convinces Paloma to relinquish Tenoch while Sarah discovers Bruno employed a neighbor to spy on Paloma. Julian and Olympia's bickering forces the judge to hold them in contempt of court, where they reconcile and agree to start fresh. Sarah apologizes to Billy and the two reconcile. Tenoch explains that he wants his parents to stop fighting, which convinces Bruno and Paloma to agree to a 50/50 custody split. Billy is revealed to be dating Simone, Sarah's rival from law school. Matty discovers Edwin lied about losing Joey's email and confronts him. |||||||
| 13 | 13 | "Pregame" | Jude Weng | Michelle Leibel & Sheridan Watson | February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27) | 5.77 |
| Olympia defends Zoey, a sorority sister accused of spiking fellow sister Violet's drink with alcohol, which sent her into cardiac arrest. Olympia attempts to convince the ADA to drop the case on the grounds the evidence is circumstancial, but the situation escalates when the victim dies in the hospital. Olympia scouts Zoey's fellow sorority sisters for character witnesses, but all of them believe Zoey is guilty. The situation worsens when a receipt is uncovered linking Zoey's I.D. to an alcohol purchase the day of the party. Matty brings Alfie to Jacobson Moore for a "Family Day" event and has him provide a distraction allowing her to obtain a record of Julian's history using the security station. Examination of videos taken during the party reveal that Kennedy, another student, stole Zoey's I.D. to frame her. Sarah discovers Billy is dating Simone and requests that she and Kira enter a monogamous relationship, but Kira refuses. Matty returns home to discover her younger sister Bitsy has come to visit. |||||||
| 14 | 14 | "Game Day" | Kat Coiro | Jeffrey Lieber | March 6, 2025 (2025-3-6) | 6.14 |
| The security record places Julian in the archives the day the WellBrexa documents were hidden. Olympia proceeds with her class action lawsuit against Slamm'd, the alcoholic drink that killed Violet. One of the jurors runs a libertarian blog, making Olympia fear he will side with Slamm'd. Bitsy discovers Matty's scheme to infiltrate Jacobson Moore and is appalled. Olympia considers calling Kennedy to testify. In private, Kennedy reveals damning evidence against Slamm'd, but refuses to testify unless the D.A. drops murder charges. Unfortunately, Olympia discovers that Violet's wealthy mother is pressuring the D.A. Matty attempts to convince Violet's mother to drop the charges, but she refuses. Billy and Sarah uncover evidence that corroborates Kennedy's testimony, but the judge refuses to admit it. Bitsy inspires Matty to show the evidence to Violet's mother, which convinces her to allow Kennedy to testify. However, after the defense digs up embarrassing footage of the lead plaintiff, he drops the case. Careful analysis of the security records makes Matty realize that the person who hid the WellBrexa documents was actually Olympia, who mixed up her keycard with Julian's. |||||||
| 15 | 15 | "Game Face" | Gina Lamar | Nicki Renna & Michelle Leibel | March 13, 2025 (2025-3-13) | 5.81 |
| The judge agrees to continue the lawsuit without a lead plaintiff. Matty attempts to contact the Redditor whistleblower; though the Redditor does not respond, they fall for a phishing trap that reveals they still work at Jacobson Moore. Bitsy sees Matty in court and realizes Matty based her Matlock persona on her, which offends her. Bitsy helps Alfie prepare for a date with his girlfriend. Slamm'd offers a settlement that Howard pressures Olympia to accept, but she refuses. Olympia's team discovers that Slamm'd concealed a focus group study proving that they targeted minors; this causes Matty to realize the concealed WellBrexa documents were from a study confirming that a change in the opioid coating increased the risk of addiction. Matty apologizes to Bitsy and asks her to become Alfie's godmother. Matty deduces the whistleblower is Mrs. Belvin, and arranges to meet her outside of Jacobson Moore. |||||||
| 16 | 16 | "The Johnson Case" | Kat Coiro | Jeffrey Lieber & Tommy Cook Story by : Tommy Cook | April 3, 2025 (2025-4-3) | TBD |
| 17 | 17 | "I Was That, Too" | TBA | TBA | April 10, 2025 (2025-4-10) | TBD |
Kat Coiro also directs episode 18, the season finale.

## Production
### Development

On January 31, 2023, it was announced that a remake version of Matlock was in development, and Jennie Snyder Urman signed on to write a pilot episode to be aired by CBS. Urman is expected to executive produce alongside Joanna Klein, Eric Christian Olsen, and Kathy Bates. On May 9, 2023, the Matlock remake was given a series order. The series is developed by Urman. John Will and Kat Coiro were added as executive producers. Coiro also directed the pilot. Production companies involved with the series are Sutton Street, Cloud Nine, and CBS Studios. Matlock was moved to the 2024–25 season due to strike-related production delays. It was later reported that it was a 18-episode order. On October 22, 2024, CBS renewed the series for a second season. Though set in New York City, the show is filmed at Paramount Studios in California after the pilot was shot in Toronto.

### Casting

Upon the pilot order announcement, Bates was cast to star. Skye P. Marshall, Jason Ritter, David Del Rio, and Leah Lewis joined the main cast upon the series order announcement. On February 8, 2024, Beau Bridges was cast in a recurring capacity. On April 1, 2024, Yael Grobglas joined the cast in a recurring role. In August 2024, Andrea Londo and Piper Curda were cast in recurring capacities.
On September 8, 2024, Bates has said that Matlock is to be her final role before retirement. On October 9, 2024, she later walked it back in a recent interview, saying that "I think that they got a bit confused."

## Broadcast

Matlock premiered with a sneak peek on September 22, 2024, before its timeslot premiere on October 17 on CBS. In Canada, the series airs on Global and is available to stream on StackTV.

## Reception
### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 24 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Case closed—this Matlock reboot is a winner thanks to the ever reliable Kathy Bates and the intriguing wrinkle it puts on the legendary series' original concept." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

### Ratings

Viewership and ratings per episode of Matlock :
| No. | Title | Air date | Rating/share (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | DVR (18–49) | DVR viewers (millions) | Total (18–49) | Total viewers (millions) |
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 22, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 7.74 | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | "Rome, in a Day" | October 17, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.38 | 0.2 | 3.89 | 0.6 | 10.24 |
| 3 | "A Guy Named Greg" | October 24, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.48 | 0.2 | 3.85 | 0.6 | 10.31 |
| 4 | "The Rabbit and the Hawk" | October 31, 2024 | 0.4/5 | 6.54 | 0.2 | 3.70 | 0.7 | 10.24 |
| 5 | "Claws" | November 7, 2024 | 0.3/4 | 5.98 | 0.3 | 4.05 | 0.6 | 10.03 |
| 6 | "Sixteen Steps" | November 14, 2024 | 0.4/3 | 6.12 | 0.2 | 3.86 | 0.6 | 9.98 |
| 7 | "Belly of the Beast" | December 5, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.32 | 0.2 | 3.74 | 0.6 | 10.07 |
| 8 | "No, No Monsters" | December 12, 2024 | 0.3/4 | 6.20 | 0.2 | 3.51 | 0.6 | 9.71 |
| 9 | "Friends" | January 30, 2025 | 0.3/5 | 5.78 | 0.2 | 3.86 | 0.5 | 9.64 |
| 10 | "Crash Helmets On" | February 6, 2025 | 0.4/5 | 6.25 | 0.2 | 3.38 | 0.6 | 9.63 |
| 11 | "A Traitor in Thine Own House" | February 13, 2025 | 0.3/4 | 5.75 | 0.2 | 3.47 | 0.5 | 9.22 |
| 12 | "This is That Moment" | February 20, 2025 | 0.3/3 | 5.88 | 0.2 | 3.34 | 0.5 | 9.22 |
| 13 | "Pregame" | February 27, 2025 | 0.4/5 | 5.77 | 0.2 | 3.32 | 0.5 | 9.09 |
| 14 | "Game Day" | March 6, 2025 | 0.4/6 | 6.14 | 0.2 | 3.19 | 0.6 | 9.33 |
| 15 | "Game Face" | March 13, 2025 | 0.3/4 | 5.81 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 5, 2025 | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Kathy Bates | Nominated |
| Satellite Awards | January 26, 2025 | Best Television Series – Drama | Matlock | Nominated |
| Satellite Awards | January 26, 2025 | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Kathy Bates | Won |
| Critics Choice Awards | February 7, 2025 | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Kathy Bates | Won |
| Critics Choice Awards | February 7, 2025 | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Skye P. Marshall | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | February 23, 2025 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Kathy Bates | Nominated |