‘Elsbeth’: Carrie Preston Previews On-Screen ‘Adversarial Relationship’ With Husband and Guest Star Michael Emerson (Exclusive)

Michael Emerson is coming to Elsbeth, and Carrie Preston spoke to PopCulture.com about what it means for the titular former attorney. It was announced at New York Comic Con in October that Emerson, who has been married to Preston since 1998, will be a recurring guest star for the second season. Emerson makes his debut as Judge Milton Crawford in Thursday’s episode, “One Angry Woman,” and Preston teased that Elsbeth “might have met her match” during a murder trial.

“It’s a great role, and we’re really excited that Michael was available to come and join us,” Preston said. “Even if he wasn’t my husband, I’m sure that the show would have been clamoring to get him on. So it’s really great to have him join this incredible roster of guest stars that we had so far.”

This isn’t the first time that the couple has worked together, as they were on the CBS crime drama Person of Interest, where Preston played Emerson’s love of his life. “And so we were very amicable,” Preston explained. “And now we’re in this adversarial relationship, which we’ve never done before. So that’s been interesting and fun and challenging to do. But he’s so great that I just put myself on set with him the way I would any other great actor and let him bring his talents to the table and then try to match them.He’s a really great scene partner. Obviously, we have a history together, but I would definitely feel that way even if I had just met him.”

Michael Emerson is just one of many guest stars to grace Elsbeth already, following Vanessa Bayer, Nathan Lane, Rob Riggle, Jenn Lyon, and many more, and that’s only Season 2. One can imagine that being married to an actor and one known for roles on shows such as Lost and Evil, among many others, that it would be only a matter of how and when for his eventual appearance on Elsbeth. Carrie Preston said there was always a plan to have him on the series.

“Like I said, anybody would be lucky to have him,” she continued. “So, you know, they would be pursuing him if I wasn’t married to him. And the fact that they wanted to come up with something for him that was not just a one-and-done but something that had an art to it. It speaks to not just his talent but that they wanted to do that as a gesture to me since he and I don’t really see each other a lot.”

It sounds like there will be a lot to look forward to with Emerson’s appearance on Elsbeth, and fans will be able to see how it all goes down between Elsbeth and Judge Crawford when a new episode of Elsbeth premieres this Thursday, Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.