‘Elsbeth’: Carrie Preston Previews ‘Operatic’ Season 2 Premiere with Guest Star Nathan Lane (Exclusive)

The second season of Elsbeth will be here this Thursday, Oct. 17, and star Carrie Preston spoke to PopCulture.com about what to expect. In the premiere, “Subscription to Murder,” a womanizing finance executive is found murdered at the opera, with Elsbeth suspecting an obsessed opera lover, played by Nathan Lane. Each episode basically takes place in a different world, as Preston said, with the premiere being set in the world of opera, literally.

“So, we are definitely very operatic in the tone of the show,” Preston shared. “It was written by our showrunner, Jon Tolins, who is a huge opera aficionado. He even goes on opera quiz shows and wins. That’s how much he knows. So it was very skillfully written, and he specifically wrote our lead guest star for Nathan Lane. That’s who I got to play with. And it was truly delightful to work with him. And, Nancy Howard, who’s one of our other directors from Season 1, she directed the episode. So it was great. She also happens to be a good friend. So it was a really wonderful way to launch ourselves into the 20-episode season.”

Lane is best known for his roles in The Producers, The Birdcage, and Mousehunt, among others, and can most recently be seen in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and The Gilded Age. He also appeared on the first two seasons of Only Murders in the Building, winning the Emmy in 2022 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Now that he’s appearing on Elsbeth, he’s adding yet another show to his growing filmography, and Preston admitted she was “a little nervous.”

“He’s one of the most well-loved and revered actors working today,” the actress said. “And so, I was a little nervous. I worked with him back on The Good Wife. We both did an episode together. It reminded me that back when we did that, he said to me, ‘They should spin your character off of this show.’ He even said it way back then. So, it was really fun then for us to be there standing on the set of this show called Elsbeth. But he was so brilliant. I didn’t even ever see him look at his script. He was just so fully ready and facile with the scenes and with the language that it was like being in a classical symphony or something, working with him.”

Whether or not Lane’s character is responsible for the murder, fans will have to wait and see to find out. He has quite the range with the characters he’s played, so you never know what could happen. Luckily, it won’t be long until people find out since Elsbeth Season 2 premieres this Thursday, Oct. 17, at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.