'Matlock' Season 3 gets disappointing release update ahead of the Season 2 finale
CBS recently confirmed that, following the conclusion of the sophomore season of 'Matlock', the show's upcoming third season will have a midseason premiere in the 2026-2027 broadcast calendar. Starring Kathy Bates in the lead role, the second season will end with a two-part finale on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET. In an interview with TV Insider, 'Matlock' creator and executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman revealed that the decision to move to a midseason premiere was influenced by narrative considerations, especially the way things are supposed to go down in the finale. She also mentioned that the show is headed for a major "reset" in the upcoming season.
Urman previously hinted that the Wellbrexa storyline would conclude by the end of the second season, and that a new and exciting mystery would be introduced on the show's third installment. It is now being speculated that this new mystery, set to air sometime in 2027, will explore uncharted territory while retaining the familiar tone of the first two seasons. Before the announcement, Urman asked the network whether the premiere could be moved, so that the production team would have ample time.
Urman said, "I asked for it with the network. We had a talk. I just feel like we had so much stuff to think about because we really landed the plane on this, and we really thought that was important because we didn’t want to keep dragging out the same story, and the characters have to get to someplace real emotionally. So we really, when we took this two-hour finale and really paid a lot of things off, what came with that was I’m going to need time after that to really build the architecture so that we have it for the next seasons. I’m excited about it, but I am also grateful because we needed a little bit of time.”
Urman also took stock of the fact that certain sections of the audience might find the wait between seasons to be too long, "Sad for audiences, but actually really good for me and the writers because I want us to plot this new mystery and make sure it’s airtight, we had a lot of pieces going in, so we really had to create this new piece of it. I feel lucky that the network’s giving us time to get it right because I don’t want the quality to drop.” She further added, "(It’s a) big reset, so we have an extra-long writer’s room before we go to camera, and I really want to do it right. The quality is everything to me.”
