Key Points
Matlock was renewed for a third season in January 2026.
Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman promises a “big reset” when the show returns.
Season 3 is currently slated to premiere in early 2027.
Kathy Bates is having the time of her life on Matlock, a CBS legal drama that doesn’t seek to reboot its iconic predecessor so much as lean on its famous name.
The Oscar winner stars as Madeline Kingston, a retired lawyer who infiltrates the law firm Jacobson Moore. She suspects the firm of conspiring with the drug company Wellbrexa to keep dangerous opioids — like the ones that caused her daughter’s lethal overdose — on the market. Working undercover in her quest for justice, she uses the name Maddy Matlock. So far, Bates’ performance has earned her nominations for an Emmy and two Golden Globes.
Season 2 wrapped on April 23, offering fans a long-awaited conclusion to the Wellbrexa storyline as it set the stage for what could be a significant change of scenery in season 3.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of season 2, showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman said that the finale “really propels the third season… into a very different area again.” Elsewhere, she teased the end of the season as a “big reset.”
So, will there be a third season of Matlock? And what can fans expect for Matty moving forward? Below is everything we know so far about Matlock season 3.
Will there be a Matlock season 3?
Kathy Bates as Matty in ‘Matlock’ season 2
Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
Yes, Matlock was renewed for a third season in January 2026. This comes as little surprise, what with Matlock being among CBS’s most-watched series.
According to Nielsen, Matlock was among the top 10 shows in terms of viewership across all broadcast and streaming this past fall.
How did Matlock season 2 end?
Beau Bridges as Senior and Kathy Bates as Matty in ‘Matlock’ season 2
Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
The Matlock season 2 finale saw Matty, Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), and Julian (Jason Ritter) team with an agent at the Department of Justice in their investigation of the Wellbrexa cover-up, which turns out to have been orchestrated not just by Jacobson Moore boss Howard “Senior” Markston (Beau Bridges), but by all of the firm’s senior partners in charge.
Their work is derailed by a scheming Senior, who was faking dementia while working behind the scenes to muck up the investigation. In the end, Julian opts to wear a wire and force a confession out of Senior, though Senior catches on quick, destroying the wire before owning up to his misdeeds. Thankfully, Matty surreptitiously planted a second wire (disguised as a pen) in Senior’s pocket, sealing his fate.
The episode ends with Senior being arrested along with his corrupt leadership team, which includes his ex-wife, Eva (Justina Machado). Julian, too, is arrested, though he says it was “worth it.”
With the future of Jacobson Moore uncertain due both to the arrests (and a major merger), Matty and Olympia discuss opening their own firm. Matty, meanwhile, opts to continue working under the name Matlock. The alter ego has given her a new sense of purpose.
What will Matlock season 3 be about?
Kathy Bates as Matty and Skye P. Marshall as Olympia in ‘Matlock’ season 2
Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
Season 3 plot details are scarce at the moment, but showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman teased a “big reset” in a recent chat with TV Insider.
“We really landed the plane on this,” she said of season 2 and the ongoing Wellbrexa storyline, “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.”
That means season 3 will center on a “great new, contained mystery that relates to but is not part of the old mystery,” Urman said in a postmortem with The Hollywood Reporter.
It may also, as teased in the season 2 finale, find Matty and Olympia starting their own firm. “We have a lot of exciting storytelling [ahead],” Urman told THR. “There will be a part of Jacobson Moore in it, but we are leaving with a lot of forward momentum, and things will be very different in the third season in an exciting way.”
This focus on Matty and Olympia tracks with remarks previously made by Urman to EW about how their relationship is the engine that powers the show. “We are really arcing this as an epic love story,” she said. “There’s a ton of love underneath.”
In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Marshall also emphasized Matty and Olympia’s relationship when speaking about season 3. “You’ll see in the finale that there is a scene with she and I, and we get a little tipsy. And it was one of the most joyful scenes that I have ever done with Kathy,” she said. “And it’s a little similar to our season one dance moment, where people just got to see them be fun, be childish, and be friends. And I want to lean more into that as well. The messiness and the vulnerability.”
Who’s in the cast of Matlock season 3?
Jason Ritter, Skye P. Marshall, and Kathy Bates in ‘Matlock’ season 2
Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
Bates and Marshall will obviously return for season 3, and we’d be surprised if Ritter’s reformed Julian didn’t remain part of the core cast. He’s in cuffs in the finale, but Olympia suggests he’ll be her and Matty’s first client at their potential firm.
One actor who won’t be returning is David Del Rio, who was fired by CBS following an investigation into what Deadline reports was a sexual assault allegation. Del Rio, who played associate Billy Martinez, appeared in the first season and several episodes of season 2 before being written out in the midseason finale.
Is there a Matlock season 3 release date?
Sam Anderson as Edwin and Kathy Bates as Matty in ‘Matlock’ season 2
Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
There’s no official season 3 release date as of this writing, but Matlock is currently set to return in early 2027. This may come as a disappointment for fans, as the show typically premieres in the fall, but Urman told TV Insider that there’s a good reason for the delay.
“I asked for it with the network. We had a talk,” she said, adding that the “reset” she and the creative team are aiming for in season 3 will require time to “really build the architecture so that we have it for the next seasons.” That includes “an extra long writer’s room before we go to camera.”
She added, “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.”
Where can I watch Matlock?
Matlock airs on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
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