‘You See A New Side of Her’: ‘Elsbeth’ Showrunner Jonathan Tolins Teases Elsbeth’s Mindset in Winter Premiere (Exclusive)

Elsbeth is coming back this Thursday for its winter premiere and showrunner Jonathan Tolins spoke to PopCulture.com about what to expect from the fallout of the fall finale when Elsbeth was named as one of the people involved in the messy Van Ness divorce case. In “Unalive and Well,” a young man is found dead in his car, so Elsbeth “visits the holistic wellness center he’d just left, and begins to suspect its charismatic founder (Eric McCormack).”

When it comes to McCormack’s character, Tolins shared that he is “handsome, manipulative, and very charming, but he’s not a con man. He seems to have genuine gifts, but he will do anything to protect what he’s built, and that’s going to lead him to make some bad decisions.” Anyone watching Elsbeth knows that not everything is what it seems, and it’s likely fans will find out pretty quickly just who he really is but it will be interesting to find out what happens.

As for Elsbeth, the usually peppy former attorney is feeling the fallout of the Van Ness case coming to light. Tolins shared that because of “what’s going on with the scandal, her involvement in the Van Ness case,” Elsbeth is “going to check in to the wellness center to get away from things for a while, and she’s gonna be paired with a journey partner played by Marcia DeBonis, who’s a wonderful actress people might recognize from The Other Two.”

“The combination of the wellness center and this character, Cheryl, is going to lead Elsbeth to open up and break down and reveal what is going on in terms of what led her to leave Chicago and pain she’s had to suffer and the frustration and the anger she’s been dealing with,” Tolins continued. “And you see a new side of her, and Carrie is unbelievably great in those scenes.”

It sounds like this will be both an entertaining and interesting episode of Elsbeth, and it’s one fans won’t want to miss. The winter premiere of Elsbeth airs this Thursday, Jan. 30 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+.