Marshall’s law
Following the debut season of CBS procedural Matlock, star Skye P Marshall reflects on updating the classic legal drama and working with Kathy Bates, and explains why she’d like to see a series based on US immigration agency ICE.
Signing up for a US network reboot of classic 1980s legal drama Matlock might sound like a risk in the age of serialised dramas and streaming platforms – but actor Skye P Marshall didn’t hesitate.
Debuting in October 2024, the new iteration gender-flipped the lead character to see Oscar-winning actor Kathy Bates (Misery) take the lead as lawyer Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock. Coming out of retirement to join prestigious law firm Jacobson Moore, she uses her brilliant mind and clever tactics to win cases, while also secretly fighting for justice over her daughter’s death, believing the firm hid crucial evidence from a pharmaceutical company that could have saved her life.
At Jacobson Moore, Matty is assigned to work for Marshall’s character Olympia, an attorney with a similar thirst for justice, while Olympia’s ex-husband Julian (Jason Ritter) is the son of the firm’s boss. Matty also works alongside younger associates Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis).
“I saw zero risk because it was [creator and showrunner] Jenny Snyder Urman’s writing, and she did Jane the Virgin and took The CW to the Golden Globes and won,” Marshall tells DQ at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival. “This is a unique writer, a very talented showrunner, and she’s now creating another show that’s going get everyone’s attention. Bonus – you scored an A-lister to play a female Matlock. Then you read the pilot, and it’s the twist at the end where you’re like, ‘Now I have to see what’s going to happen,’ but then every episode has a twist, and now you’re trapped.”
When she landed the role, Marshall didn’t get any notes about Olimpia’s background. Instead, she took inspiration from the character’s name, deciding that she would have the focus, determination and discipline of an Olympic athlete. “I wanted to attach all those attributes that someone at that level would have if she were an attorney, and that’s what you see with Olympia,” she says.
But while Marshall has found numerous connections with her character, she reveals that Snyder has often had to remind her: “You’re not Olympia.”
“When she [Olympia] found out that Julian was cheating on her with someone at the office, I was like, ‘Let me just slap her one time. Just give me one good soap-opera slap.’ And they were like, ‘No, because Olympia is focused on the client, and if they need her, no matter who betrays her, that is her main objective,’” Marshall says. “So there were little moments where I had to retreat from how I would respond or react, because I am not the character.
“But it can so easily get blurred over time,” she continues, “because the quality of Olympia’s characteristics are very similar to mine. I served in the military, I graduated college top of my class. I worked corporate at a pharmaceutical marketing firm. So the irony of the storyline in Matlock was not lost on me. I had big pharma as my clients, and I started to see that was something I was no longer comfortable with. That’s what led me to quit and pursue acting at 28. Now it’s full circle.”
While Marshall jokes that she has known Bates for her “entire adult life” thanks to watching her on screen, she actually only met her co-star for the first time a couple of years ago. She describes their first meeting as “quite intimidating,” knowing she was the “underdog,” but boosted by the fact that joining Matlock would mean she would be going “into the ring with some champs.”
In fact, without a talent agent to fight her corner, Marshall had to battle for the chance to play opposite Bates from the outset, calling producer CBS Studios herself to get a copy of the Matlock script and then sending a video “begging” for the chance to audition for the role of Olympia.
Her plea to “just put me in the ring” was well received, and led to a producer meeting over Zoom before she flew to LA to do a chemistry read in person with Bates. “I did not sleep for days, and when I went into the room, I did the thing you’re not supposed to do. You’re not supposed to touch any of the talent. I said to her, ‘Can I hug you?’ as I was already approaching, and then she started walking towards me, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is happening.’ Then we hugged, and my heart was beating out of my chest,” she remembers. “I was like, ‘You ready to have some fun?’ She was just like, ‘Let’s do this, kid.’”
With Marshall ultimately securing the part, it’s safe to say the audition went better than a previous occasion when she was in the running for the role of Okoye in Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, the casting call for which specified that martial arts experience would be “a great bonus.”
“I literally researched martial arts moves the night before. I looked so stupid,” Marshall says of the physically exhausting routine she performed. “I even had a little stupid blade. I was mortified when I got out of that. They were like, ‘Um, thank you. Do you have any questions?’ And I was like, [out of breath], ‘No. Do you want me to do it, like, differently?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we think you did great. You should take your knife and go.’”
Danai Gurira eventually landed the role, “and she’s brilliant in it. But I was embarrassed for me. I was like, ‘I don’t deserve to be an actor.’ I can’t believe I actually wore all black like a ninja and went in there with a box knife after researching two hours of martial arts. I’m nuts, though,” she laughs. “I’ve pulled wigs off in auditions just for shock value, because it got to the point where I was just like, ‘Dare to suck, just dare to go in there and look stupid.’ As long as you’re confident and they see that you’re having fun, that’ll make their experience enjoyable as well.”
Marshall was a child when the original Matlock series starring Andy Griffith would be playing in the background of her home. After reading the pilot for the remake, which is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution, she went back to watch reruns – but quickly realised this new iteration wasn’t “my mother’s Matlock.”
“This is a whole new reinvention of a series,” she says. “They’ll wink at the old Matlock, but Kathy is incredible at creating her own universe, and I’m so happy we have the Matlock IP because that’s her target audience, and that got them to the seats. Then you have me and you have Jason Ritter, who’s brilliant, and David Del Rio and Leah Lewis. We are a proper reflection of New York.”
While many major studios and corporations have withdrawn from diversity schemes after Donald Trump’s executive order demanded the end of federal diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and urged private firms to do the same, Marshall praises CBS for diversifying Jacobson Moore across age and race. “This is what New York corporate looks like,” she notes.
The actor also applauds those same schemes for ensuring underrepresented figures in the entertainment business “now have a seat at the table.”
“I feel like a lot of actors I’ve experienced in LA who are not working and they’re not diverse have been blaming it on diversity,” she says. “And I’m like, ‘We did not take the table. We got a seat at the table. We are added to the ensemble.’ Let’s not blame that on the reason you’re unemployed – and if you think that’s the reason, then racism kept you rich? What are you saying?
“[There’s] enough content to go around for everyone, especially with all these streaming platforms, that all I focus on is what do I want to represent? When it comes to the roles I choose, I want to be able to move the culture forward. If a young black girl or boy, or a girl of any ethnicity, sees me and I can inspire them, then I’ve done my job, whether it’s playing a high-power attorney or a cardiothoracic surgeon, where ‘catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia’ still keeps me up at night. I want to become as smart as the characters I play. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
On the Matlock set, Marshall has also been inspired by Bates, who makes a point of knowing everyone’s name and asking about their families. Marshall now even has an apothecary table in her apartment that used to belong to Bates. “Watching how she moves and the respect she gives everybody, the energy goes off of the top and it makes its way down. She has created an environment that’s just so supportive and loving, and [there’s] a lot of great female creatives,” she says.
At a time when procedural dramas are coming back into fashion, as viewers seek a return to long-running, case-of-the-week shows they can keep coming back to, Marshall says Matlock is taking the format “up another notch” with its focus on characters and serialised elements of the story that drive live viewing.
“It’s not just something in the background,” she says of the show, which will return for a second season this autumn. But if there were a type of procedural the actor would watch herself, it’s a series centred on ICE – the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency currently in the news headlines following a series of immigration raids in LA and across the country.
“I want to see what’s actually going on in there,” she says. “I want to see the allies who are feeling really uncomfortable about the things they’re doing. I want to see the heart of those families that are being destroyed. I want to see backstories of how they got there, and how they’ve served this country and how they’ve paid their taxes.
“We need to be way more informed,” the actor adds. “And if Olympia ever had a client that dealt with an issue with ICE, she would go toe to toe [with the agency]. If that’s a good citizen who’s doing what they’re meant to be doing in this country, she will fight to the death, and she will raise hell for that client and she will win. That’s what I believe, and I need more of those people.”
Like Matlock? Watch this! Suggested by AI, selected by DQ
Suits: Rejuvenated by its release on Netflix, this binge-worthy legal drama originally aired on USA Network, following the characters, exploits and office politics of a high-powered New York law firm.
Elsbeth: This spin-off from The Good Wife centres on the titular brilliant attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, played by Carrie Preston, who solves crimes in her own quirky way.
The Lincoln Lawyer: Based on Michael Connelly’s novels, this series follows a defence attorney who works out of his car, featuring complex cases, personal stakes and a protagonist with a strong moral compass.
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tagged in: CBS, Kathy Bates, Matlock, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Skye P Marshall