Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Elsbeth season 2, episode 9.

Following its holiday hiatus, Elsbeth returned to CBS on Thursday, January 30 with highly-awaited answers. Viewers have been left to speculate about what caused Carrie Preston's character to leave Chicago and the NYPD in the show's pilot. Season 2, Episode 9, titled, "Unalive And Well," provides more insight into what the attorney has been running from. In an emotional moment with her journey partner, Elsbeth confesses she made a lot of money from her work on the Van Ness case. However, the protagonist wasn't fully aware of the harm she caused through her involvement.

The winter premiere sees Elsbeth come clean about being tricked, itting she's angry and embarrassed about the circumstances. Showrunner Jonathan Tolins shares that the moment at the campfire is one of his favorite Carrie Preston performances, as it allows Elsbeth to open up in surprising ways. While there's still plenty to learn about the attorney-turned-consultant, Tolins enjoys unraveling her many layers.

ScreenRant interviews Tolins about the winter premiere's setting, what the Chicago reveal means for Elsbeth, and whether more characters from The Good Wife and The Good Fight universe could appear in Elsbeth season 2 and beyond.

Elsbeth's Involvement In The Van Ness Case Will Drive Her Throughout Season 2

"She's kind, she's enthusiastic, she likes people to be honest and kind, and she believes in the truth."

ScreenRant: I love that you put a character as curious as Elsbeth in what’s supposed to be this very serene environment. What inspired that montage at the wellness center?

Jonathan Tolins: We always try to find ways to have Elsbeth really dive into the new world of the episode. We're very lucky in that our show is both a procedural with serialized content, but also kind of an anthology show because each case we basically pick a new sort of slice of New York life or New York high society and really delve into that.

I always say we try to build the case with details that are very specific to that world that we're exploring that week. So to have Elsbeth actually check into this place seemed like a natural thing to do because she's so curious, and she is open to new experiences. It also gave us the chance to have her be paired with a character like Sheryl, who was played by Marcia DeBonis, one of my favorite actresses.

It gave us the chance to have Elsbeth open up in surprising ways. It's interesting how, a lot of times, you find yourself telling your deepest secrets to someone you don't know very well because there's less on the line. And that's one of my favorite performances of Carrie's, who's always brilliant. The scene at the campfire between Elsbeth and Sheryl is just kind of amazing, I think.

I want to ask you about the Chicago reveal because it's one of my favorite performances from her, as well. Elsbeth its that she doesn’t just feel bad, she’s embarrassed about being tricked in the Van Ness case. Will we see that affect her confidence?

Jonathan Tolins: Yeah, it is what's going to drive her for a bit until she can make things right. A lot of people say to me, "We just need a show like this right now," and I think what's driving that is that people love how Elsbeth's priorities are right.

She's kind, she's enthusiastic, she likes people to be honest and kind, and she believes in the truth. All these things are values that are sometimes absent in our public life right now. So she's kind of a balm to remind people you can approach life with enthusiasm and curiosity and comion, even though she's catching criminals.

Tolins Is Open To Including More Characters From The Good Wife/The Good Fight Universe In Elsbeth

"It's tricky because, the way our show is built, we would love to have more characters from there come on, but it also has to be realistic."

She takes that big step by asking Blanke for help. What does this mean for her character development?

Jonathan Tolins: People aren't as cheery as she is unless there's also a dark side. We hinted at it in season 1 in the matchmaking episode where she talked about how she has a lot of moods, and you saw a little bit of her loneliness.

This year, in the Christmas episode, when she is not going to be with Teddy and Kaya keeps trying to cheer her up, and she says, "I can feel sad sometimes." We're finding more and more layers to the character and this sense that she hurt someone else is going to drive her to make it right. That's one of the things we love about the character.

Captain Wagner plants a seed to get Andy’s murder case reopened. What can you tease about where that may lead?

Jonathan Tolins: Captain Wagner and Elsbeth are going to team up to try to bring that case to a just conclusion.

There are several connections to The Good Wife and The Good Fight in Elsbeth. Have there been discussions about other characters from that universe you're hoping to include?

Jonathan Tolins: There have been some. It's hard. I worked on the last five years of The Good Fight, and of course, I was a big fan of The Good Wife. It's tricky because, the way our show is built, we would love to have more characters from there come on, but it also has to be realistic, for television, at least.

They're all in Chicago. We're in New York. I'm always open to it. I will say there have been times where we've explored it and it just didn't work out because people are busy and there are scheduling and budget considerations. But it may. I'm very proud of what we've done with Teddy because we heard on Elsbeth's second episode of The Good Wife that she had a son, but he was never named or anything.

We took that one line and have now created this mother-son relationship that we're having a lot of fun with. What we said a lot last year, and I hope people know this, is that you don't have to know The Good Wife or The Good Fight to enjoy our show, but we like to throw an Easter egg in every once in a while.

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More About Elsbeth Season 2 On CBS

Based On The Character Featured In The Good Wife And The Good Fight

Emmy Award winner Carrie Preston is back as Elsbeth Tascioni, the astute but unconventional consent decree attorney working with the NYPD to catch New York’s most well-heeled murderers utilizing her unique point of view. Season two of the critically acclaimed series brings new cases and challenges when mistakes of the past come back to haunt Elsbeth, her boss Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce), and detective in training Officer Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson).

Check out our other Elsbeth season 2 interviews here:

• Cast & Showrunners At NYCC 2024
• Ben Levi Ross
• Carrie Preston
• Jonathan Tolins

Elsbeth season 2 airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and is available to stream next-day on Paramount+.