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This story contains spoilers from Matlock season 2. Matlock fans, you can expect some major changes in season 3.
he hit CBS series wrapped up season 2 on April 23, and there was a lot to unpack. Between Madeline “Matty Matlock” Kingston (Kathy Bates) closing the Wellbrexa case, Julian Markston (Jason Ritter) turning on his father, Howard “Senior” (Beau Bridges), and major shakeups at Jacobson Moore, the finale delivered plenty of bombshells.
But as showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman told Entertainment Weekly, fans should expect the show to get a “big reset” for the next installment. And unfortunately, the new episodes may take longer than people think.
Much to the chagrin of Matlock fans, season 3 will not premiere in 2026. Rather, Matlock season 3 will premiere on CBS in midseason 2027.
So, why the delay? As Jennie shared with TV Insider on April 21, she asked for Matlock to be pushed back a few months and hinted that she wants to spend time building out the aftermath of the season 2 finale.
“I just feel like we had so much stuff to think about because we really landed the plane on this, and we really thought that was important because we didn’t want to keep dragging out the same story, and the characters have to get to someplace real emotionally,” she told the outlet. “So we really, when we took this two-hour finale and really paid a lot of things off, what came with that was I’m going to need time after that to really build the architecture so that we have it for the next seasons. I’m excited about it, but I am also grateful because we needed a little bit of time.”