When Macon-born actress Carrie Preston took on the role of unconventional attorney Elsbeth Tascioni on the television series “The Good Wife” in 2010, she had no idea where all it would lead. The character quickly became a fan favorite, won Preston an Emmy Award, continued on in “The Good Fight” and is now headlining its own spinoff series.
“Elsbeth” debuted on CBS last week, with the quirky lawyer moving from Chicago to New York. Tasked with the job of being an outside observer for the NYPD following an arrest for a wrongful lawsuit, the character gets more involved in cases than anyone expected. The pilot won its time slot and is now streaming — and returns for its premiere episode April 4.
Show creators Robert and Michelle King had discussed the possibility of an “Elsbeth” series for a while, trying to find the right timing. Even as far back as the end of “The Good Wife” there were rumblings about attempting to center a series around the character, Preston recalls.
“They kept on bringing me on as a guest star for ‘The Good Wife’ and ‘The Good Fight,’” she says. “I think I played the character about 20 times over those two series. It wasn’t until 2020 during the lockdown, when they were watching reruns of one of their favorite shows — ‘Columbo’ — and thought about a structure similar with Elsbeth at the center. That shifted it from a law show to a police procedural with a ‘Columbo’ type character.”
Credit: CBS
Credit: CBS
Being underestimated is Elsbeth’s superpower, the actress believes. With those around her dismissing her merely as a observer, she’s able to use her intuition and observation to get on top — and see the truth. “She will cut them with a razor blade and they won’t even know they are bleeding until she leaves the room,” says Preston. “There are a lot of women in the world who are extremely smart but who aren’t really considered as anything formidable. I like to think I am representing the underappreciated and underestimated.”
A giant fan of New York, Elsbeth is enjoying being a tourist. Also pleasing, though, is the chance she gets to reinvent herself professionally. “She is being reborn in a way as a detective and is loving it,” Preston says. “There’s some resistance because that is not how she was trained but she seems to be quite brilliant at it. She has this permission slip in a way because of this consent decree that has brought her to New York. That’s how she is getting away with what she’s getting away with.”
In the first episode, Preston teams with her “True Blood” co-star Stephen Moyer, who plays a theater director Elsbeth senses is responsible for a student’s death. Jane Krakowski, Blair Underwood and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are some of the upcoming guest stars.
When Preston read the part for the first time, she marveled at how well written Elsbeth was. She knew it was a special part and that the Kings appreciated Elsbeth’s eccentric manner. “Once I started leaning into that and adding some personal and comedic touches, the writers started seeing what I was doing. A real alchemy started to happen and we hit our stride those 14 years.”
She had worked hard to get there.
By the age of 10, Preston was involved in community theater in Macon. She had fallen in love with acting and started her own theater company with neighborhood kids. “I was a lifer and I had parents who were extremely supportive of that,” she says. Never once did her family steer her from pursuing her passion, which included studying at Julliard.
Not long after graduating, she landed a supporting role in 1997′s “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” starring another Georgia-born actress, Julia Roberts. “That was back when the romantic comedy was king,” Preston recalls. “I feel I got to experience the height and time of Hollywood history that does not exist anymore. I still get residuals and people still watch that movie. It has found a place in people’s heart. It launched me in my career.”
Credit: CBS
Credit: CBS
Lots of TV and film followed but two of the most notable were “True Blood” (playing Arlene Fowler Bellefleur) and “Claws” (where she portrayed Polly Marks). Preston considers both career highlights. “‘True Blood’ lasted seven seasons,” she says. “On the one hand, it was about vampires but on the other it had something profound to say about people who are disenfranchised fighting for their rights. That is something we are still grappling with today, if not more so than ever. With ‘Claws,’ we were at the forefront of a female empowerment movement. That is a very strong female ensemble about women who are overlooked and underappreciated finding their power, albeit in an illegal way.”
Preston is currently being seen in Alexander Payne’s Oscar-nominated “The Holdovers,” starring as a staff member of the school where Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) works. With the Academy Awards coming March 10, she says it’s been a pleasure seeing the people (and the acclaim) it has reached.
“Quiet movies like that are sometimes not heard in the clinging and clanging and banging of big Hollywood blockbusters,” she says. “It’s extraordinary that people have gravitated towards it. When you are in an Academy Award-nominated film, people watch it! I am so used to doing independent films a very small audience watches. I’ve heard from people I haven’t heard from in decades. That’s been a treat.”
Having been in the business for so long and now being the central figure of a high-profile series isn’t something Preston is taking for granted. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve had a career I am extremely proud of, but to be trusted with something as massive as the title character in a network show is something I do not take lightly,” she says. “I feel extremely humbled and lucky. It is profoundly moving to me that in this stage of my life I have been given this opportunity.”
TV PREVIEW
“Elsbeth”
10 p.m. on CBS, returning April 4. Now streaming on Paramount+
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