Matlock Boss Breaks Down the Game-Changing Season 2 Finale and Setting Matty on a New Path

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Matlock. Read at your own risk!

It seems like Jacobson Moore is no more on Matlock. Two years of investigating the firm to find out who was responsible for removing the Wellbrexa study that could have changed the course of the opioid epidemic 10 years earlier finally led to the big arrests of the firm's leadership. Julian (Jason Ritter) led the charge, with the help of Justice Department Agent Guitierrez (Gina Rodriguez), and secured a recorded confession from Senior (Beau Bridges), ensuring that Senior and the majority of the firm's board would face justice for their evidence tampering. 

Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) are going to strike out on their own, though by the end of the episode, they still hadn't decided whose name would go first at their new firm. They do know that Julian will be their first client, as he was arrested with the rest of the board. Sarah (Leah Lewis) and Belvin (Patricia Belcher) have also been let in on Matty's secret. Fans will have to wait until Season 3 to find out how either of them reacts to Matty's duplicitous behavior, though, and whether they'll want to continue having a relationship with her by taking a job at the new firm. 

This means all new ground for Matlock when it returns for Season 3. Matty and Olympia are now business partners. The outside world still doesn't know that Matty is actually Madeline Kingston, and the duo will have to fight their way through the ashes of burning Jacobson Moore to the ground. The one thing we do know, is that whatever happens next, Matty and Olympia will be doing it together. 

TV Guide spoke with Matlock executive producer and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman about bringing Gina Rodriguez — the star of Urman's breakout hit Jane the Virgin — into Matlock, completely changing the premise of the show for Season 3, and what these arrests mean for our favorite characters, including Julian, going forward.  

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It took two seasons, but what made Agent Gutierrez the right role to bring Gina into the Matlock world? 
Jennie Snyder Urman: We just needed someone that would make it so specific, so particular, and cause a big impact with not that many scenes. They needed to play serious stakes, but also have some humor. It suddenly was like, "Oh, it has to be Gina. It has to be," and luckily, she said yes. 

You've already managed to get quite a few, but are there any other Jane the Virgin or Good Sam alums you want to get on the show? 
Urman: I want them all. Yes, all of them. 

One of the big revelations in the episode is that Matty is finally willing to let the lawsuit go. Can you talk about getting Matty to that place and why she's ready after working so hard to get to this point? 
Urman: That was something we didn't think we'd get to until later on in our storytelling. Once we were following the thread of this and how far she and Olympia have come, and the understanding that she's built with Julian, the journey she had gone on with her daughter and blaming herself, the forgiveness and compassion she's been able to show to Joey that she wasn't able to show her daughter in certain moments — we felt like this is where her journey was. The storytelling was always, "I didn't realize all of these people would affect me in these ways." The balance has finally tipped, where the people affected her in such a big way that she finally thought that she could lay down her sword. 

We've been talking about this moment. How do we earn the moment where Matty is like, "I can lay down the sword"? And it's there in the moment where Olympia asks about her daughter, and Matty says, "I think my daughter led me to you." That has always been the love story of this show. It's always been Olympia and Matty. That's how I pitched it, how we've written it, and how we act it. Their relationship after this season was really forged there, and that was true for Matty. She's gotten somewhere deep and emotional: she's forgiven herself for the things she cannot change or control. She will never stop missing her daughter, but she will stop punishing herself for her daughter's death every day. That is, in large part, due to her friendship with Olympia. 

It seems like their relationship is on very solid ground now. What is going to cause tension between them in Season 3?Urman: They're so intimate. What does that do to the other relationships in their life? Matty has found this other person that she confides in as much as she confides in Edwin. Olympia is looking at what she wants for her future. And then there is the business part of it. They go into business together, and how does that affect their friendship? There are real things that we can dig into without making it about trust, because I think these women 100 percent trust each other now. 

Matty is starting to trust more people in general. Three more people are informed of the secret in the finale. How do you decide when a character is ready to hear the truth? Is it a litmus test of their relationship with Matty or is it plot driven? 
Urman: Julian was not a decision. He realized it, and then he saw something. Matty realized she would have power if she told him the truth. When it comes to Sarah and Belvin, the truth was going to come out. She's at a point where she's thinking all of this is inevitable, and it's all going to come back out, and these people will never speak to me again if they find out. She wants to tell them herself and give them the choice. It comes to a point where she doesn't have to anymore because her name is being kept underneath, but she still feels that she owes them the truth so that their relationships can continue on with the truth as the foundation. We'll see how they react to all of that in Season 3. 

The implication is that Sarah and Belvin may end up at Matlock & Lawrence (name still in progress) if they know the secret. Meanwhile, Hunter was given a recommendation so he could stay at Jacobson Moore. Is there no room for him at the new law firm?
Urman: We will still be seeing Hunter in Season 3. There's a question of, if Sarah is offered a place at Lawrence and Matlock, will she take it? How does she feel about being lied to? How does Mrs. Belvin feel? There's one thing to say, "I'm going to tell you all," and then to let them have their reactions. Belvin and Sarah might have different ways they feel about Matty, and that might impact where they start the season. 

The new law firm is a big reset in general. What excited you about blowing up the premise of the show like this after you've spent two seasons building up Matty's status at Jacobson Moore?
Urman: The new season excites me in every aspect of the storytelling. We don't have to tell the same stories. We don't constantly have to have our characters make mistakes in order to rationalize more steps being taken away before they can unearth the mystery. The braver storytelling piece for us was to go there, have them do that, and then say, "Now what?" What is it like to practice law without this giant firm underneath you? We get to put our characters in new, interesting places and part of the joy is seeing how they react, and knowing, "Oh, they won't like that." What happens when they have to go against Jacobson Moore? What is Jacobson Moore anymore? All of this gives us new areas of storytelling to explore and it keeps it really fresh, and challenging in a good way. 

We can't talk about character growth this season without talking about Julian. He is the one that pushes forward with taking down Senior. How did you get Julian to that place and what can you tease about what that means for him in Season 3 now that he's in handcuffs?
Urman: It was always our goal to get him there. He's somebody that really wants to be a good person. He really wants to be seen as a good person. When those moments come that are hard, where he has to sacrifice himself or risk something, he chooses this easy way out continually. We constantly see him do that. For him, this whole season was about earning this moment at the end where he says, "If I don't make a different choice then I am exactly like my father, so I have to make this braver, different, more destructive choice." That is going to carry him forward, but it comes with real ramifications… [As for Season 3], his professional position is obviously severely compromised, and we will know about jail in the first episode back. 

Matlock returns to CBS for Season 3 at midseason in the 2026-27 TV schedule.